The Fort Smith, AR Metro Area is a vibrant and bustling place with plenty of culture and politics. Local government includes the City of Fort Smith, Sebastian County, and the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. There are many local representatives who work to ensure that the voices of their constituents are heard in both municipal and state government. Many people in this area identify as Republicans or Democrats and actively discuss issues such as economic development, education reform, environmental protection, healthcare access, infrastructure improvements, and public safety. The community also has numerous civic organizations dedicated to making sure their voice is heard on important matters of public policy. Additionally, there are many opportunities for citizens to be politically active by attending city council meetings or participating in local protests. Politics in this area is an ever-evolving process that involves citizens from all walks of life coming together to make sure they are represented in their government.
The political climate in Fort Smith Metro Area is very conservative.
In Fort Smith Metro Area 24.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 73.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Fort Smith metro area remained overwhelmingly Republican, 73.1% to 24.5%.
The Fort Smith metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Fort Smith Metro Area is very conservative.
Arkansas is strongly 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.
Fort Smith, Arkansas: 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Fort Smith Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,651 contributions totaling $247,221 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $93 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,735 contributions totaling $821,755 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $300 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)