The city of South Bend, IN, in zip code 46615 is a bustling community in St. Joseph County. It is home to the University of Notre Dame and a number of other higher learning institutions. The city has a long history of involvement in politics as well, with the Democratic Party having held control for a majority of its existence. Locally, South Bend has an elected mayor, Pete Buttigieg, who has held office since 2012 and will be running for re-election in 2020. The City Council consists of nine members who are all elected by district. Each year South Bend holds elections for positions such as Mayor, City Clerk, City Attorney and various members of the Common Council. As part of their duties the Mayor presides over meetings with the Common Council and appoints committees to help manage the day to day operations of the city government. It also serves as an active representative for residents on issues that affect them throughout St. Joseph County and beyond.
The political climate in Zip 46615 (South Bend, IN) is leaning 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 46615 (South Bend, IN) is leaning liberal.
South Bend, Indiana is leaning 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 46615 (South Bend)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 892 contributions totaling $61,632 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 75 contributions totaling $21,276 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $284 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)