Polk County, TX is an interesting place when it comes to politics. Located in the beautiful Piney Woods region of east Texas, the county has a long history of political activity. The county is home to both major political parties and candidates from each have been known to hold office in Polk County. As a result of its rural population, local issues such as education and health care tend to take precedence over larger state and national issues in the region. In recent years, the two main contenders for county-level offices have been Republicans and Democrats alike. Both parties are actively engaged in voter outreach, trying to earn support and build coalitions within the community. While they may differ on certain issues at times, all share a commitment to ensuring that Polk County remains a great place to live for all citizens.
The political climate in Polk County, TX is very conservative.
In Polk County, TX 22.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 76.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 0.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 76.8% to 22.3%.
Polk county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Polk County, TX is very conservative.
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Texas is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Polk, Texas: R R R R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Polk County, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 472 contributions totaling $108,550 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $230 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 605 contributions totaling $120,762 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $200 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)