The city of Winter Haven, FL (33880) has a mayor-council form of government, with the mayor serving as the executive officer and the council as the legislative body. The current mayor is Brad Dantzler, who was elected in 2018. The seven-member council is made up of a Mayor Pro Tem and six other members who are elected at large by Winter Haven’s residents. The representatives serve two-year terms and meet twice a month to discuss various matters pertaining to the city's budget, business developments, public safety, infrastructure improvements, and tax policies. Additionally, there are several appointed boards that oversee different aspects of city operations and are comprised of citizens living in 33880 Winter Haven with expertise in various fields like economics, urban development, public safety and more. In addition to these local politics, state politics also have an influence on the community with both representatives and senators representing 33880 Winter Haven.
The political climate in Zip 33880 (Winter Haven, 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 33880 (Winter Haven, FL) is somewhat conservative.
Winter Haven, 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.
Winter Haven, 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 33880 (Winter Haven)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 441 contributions totaling $41,501 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $94 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 216 contributions totaling $38,377 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $178 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)