South Bend, IN 46601 is a city with a diverse population that is heavily involved in politics. The city has a Mayor, City Clerk, and nine Council Members who lead the city's government. South Bend is represented on the national level by Senator Todd Young and Congressman Joe Donnelly, both of whom are Democrats. On the state level, South Bend is represented by State Senator David Niezgodski and State Representative Ryan Dvorak, both Democrats. The local political scene in South Bend 46601 consists of various elections ranging from municipal to federal levels where citizens can vote for candidates representing their interests. These elections feature an array of candidates from different parties including Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, and more. Through these elections South Bend citizens are able to make their voices heard and help shape the future of their communities.
The political climate in Zip 46601 (South Bend, IN) is somewhat liberal.
St. Joseph County, IN is leaning liberal. In St. Joseph County, IN 52.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, St. Joseph county remained moderately Democratic, 52.0% to 46.1%.
St. Joseph county voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 46601 (South Bend, IN) is somewhat liberal.
South Bend, Indiana is somewhat liberal.
St. Joseph County, Indiana is leaning liberal.
South Bend-Mishawaka Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
South Bend, Indiana: d r 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 46601 (South Bend)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 188 contributions totaling $117,899 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $627 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 48 contributions totaling $31,168 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $649 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)