The city of Altoona, IA with the zip code 50009 is located in Polk County and is part of the Des Moines-West Des Moines metropolitan area. Altoona has a strong political community that is actively engaged in local issues. The city elects a Mayor and six City Council members to serve as representatives for the citizens. These representatives are responsible for setting policy, advocating for resources, and ensuring that the city remains safe and prosperous. In addition to local governance, Altoona residents also participate in state and national elections to ensure their voices are heard on a larger scale. Through their involvement in politics, residents have been able to help shape the future of Altoona for decades.
The political climate in Zip 50009 (Altoona, IA) is leaning liberal.
Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Polk County, IA 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.3%.
Polk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 50009 (Altoona, IA) is leaning liberal.
Altoona, Iowa is leaning liberal.
Polk County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Iowa 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.
Altoona, Iowa: 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 50009 (Altoona)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 339 contributions totaling $54,030 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $159 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 151 contributions totaling $13,853 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $92 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)