Ankeny, Iowa is a thriving city located in Polk County. It is home to many businesses and families, and it has a strong sense of community and civic pride. Politically, Ankeny leans heavily towards Republican candidates. In the last election cycle for U.S. Congress in 2016, Republican incumbent David Young won by a wide margin over Democratic challenger Jim Mowrer. Locally, Mayor Gary Lorenz has been in office since 2007 and is running for re-election this year on a platform of fiscal responsibility and economic development initiatives. The City Council consists of seven members who are elected at-large every two years, all currently held by Republicans as well. There are also several local issues that the City Council addresses each year including things like funding for public projects such as parks or roads and tax levies for various services. Ankeny residents have always taken great pride in their political system and take part in the electoral process through voting on local candidates and ballot initiatives to ensure their voices are heard throughout the city.
The political climate in Zip 50021 (Ankeny, 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 50021 (Ankeny, IA) is leaning liberal.
Ankeny, 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.
Ankeny, 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 50021 (Ankeny)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 466 contributions totaling $67,243 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $144 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 524 contributions totaling $242,843 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $463 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)