Bartow, FL is a city located in Polk County with a population of 20,358 according to the 2019 Census. It is governed by an elected Mayor and City Council who are responsible for setting the policy that governs the city. The city council consists of five members who serve four-year terms and have responsibility over important decisions such as setting the budget for each year, approving laws and ordinances, and appointing members to committees. Currently, the mayor is William “Bill” Mutz, who was elected in 2017 and has pushed for policies on housing affordability and economic development. He has also worked with local businesses to create more jobs within the community. The current City Council members are James F. Clements (District 1), Gloria M. Peaks (District 2), Trish Pfeiffer (District 3), Jason E. Wright (District 4) and Michael T. Gowen (at-large). These individuals have all made great efforts to make Bartow, FL a vibrant and thriving area of Florida's Heartland Region.
The political climate in Zip 33830 (Bartow, FL) is somewhat conservative.
Polk County, FL is somewhat conservative. In Polk County, FL 42.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained strongly Republican, 56.6% to 42.2%.
Polk county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 33830 (Bartow, FL) is somewhat conservative.
Bartow, Florida is somewhat conservative.
Polk County, Florida is somewhat conservative.
Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Florida 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.
Bartow, Florida: 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 zip 33830 (Bartow)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 461 contributions totaling $13,924 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $30 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 181 contributions totaling $32,814 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $181 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)