The small, rural town of Makanda, Illinois (zip code 62958) is home to a population of about 1,800 people. Located in Jackson County, it is the smallest municipality in the county. Makanda has a strong sense of community pride and its residents are very active in local politics. Local elections take place every two years and residents have the opportunity to elect their mayor, four trustees and a clerk. The Mayor and Trustees are responsible for making decisions that affect the daily life of the town's citizens, such as approving building projects or creating laws to ensure safety and security. Residents stay informed on what is being decided during these meetings by attending them in person or by accessing public records online. In addition to local political activity, many of Makanda’s citizens volunteer with various community organizations that work to make the town better for everyone who lives there.
The political climate in Zip 62958 (Makanda, IL) is leaning conservative.
Jackson County, IL is leaning liberal. In Jackson County, IL 49.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jackson county remained narrowly Democratic, 49.2% to 47.9%.
Jackson county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 62958 (Makanda, IL) is leaning conservative.
Makanda, Illinois is leaning conservative.
Jackson County, Illinois is leaning liberal.
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.
Makanda, Illinois: d D D D d d
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 62958 (Makanda)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 256 contributions totaling $15,539 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $61 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 31 contributions totaling $35,645 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,150 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)