The Carbondale-Marion, IL Metro Area is home to a diverse political landscape that shapes the local government and services. The region is mainly served by Democratic and Republican representatives who work diligently to meet the needs of their constituents. Democrats have traditionally been in control of local politics while Republicans have held some positions in recent years. There are also a number of nonpartisan elected officials who serve important roles in the community like police officers, judges, school board members and more. As such, it can be difficult to label any one party as being wholly in charge of the area's politics. Regardless of affiliation, the representatives for this area strive to ensure residents have access to quality programs and resources.
The political climate in Carbondale-Marion Metro Area is moderately conservative.
In Carbondale-Marion Metro Area 39.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 58.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Carbondale-Marion metro area remained very strongly Republican, 58.5% to 39.0%.
The Carbondale-Marion metro area voted Republican in 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2004, and Democratic in 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Carbondale-Marion Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Illinois is moderately liberal.
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.
Carbondale-Marion, Illinois: d r d 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 Carbondale-Marion Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,002 contributions totaling $360,108 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,495 contributions totaling $900,613 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $602 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)