Putnam County, West Virginia is a rural county located in the southeastern part of the state. The county is home to over 55,000 people and is known for its small-town charm and close-knit community. Politically, Putnam County has consistently leaned slightly Republican in statewide elections. In recent years, the county has seen an increase in GOP support with most local races going to Republicans. In the 2020 election cycle, Putnam County saw a surge of Republican voters turn out to cast their ballots on election day. This resulted in many local races being won by Republican candidates despite a strong showing from Democrats. In short, Putnam County's politics are complex and ever-changing but generally favor Republicans more often than not.
The political climate in Putnam County, WV is very conservative.
In Putnam County, WV 27.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 70.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Putnam county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 70.3% to 27.6%.
Putnam county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Putnam County, WV is very conservative.
Huntington-Ashland Metro Area is very conservative.
West Virginia is very 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.
Putnam, West Virginia: 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 Putnam County, WV
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 563 contributions totaling $83,405 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $148 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 322 contributions totaling $136,113 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $423 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)