The city of Des Moines, IA 50315 is politically active and engaged with the issues facing its community. There are a variety of local politicians who bring forward their perspectives on issues such as crime, education, and economic development. The city's mayor, Frank Cownie, has been in office since 2004 and has made numerous efforts to improve the well-being of the citizens of Des Moines through initiatives like his Youth Employment Initiative. In addition to the mayor's office, there is an active City Council that consists of seven members who represent different areas of the city. The City Council regularly meets to discuss topics like budgeting and public safety in order to ensure that all citizens are well represented. Additionally, there are several organizations within Des Moines that help advocate for certain causes or work to bring awareness to particular issues. All in all, staying informed on local politics in Des Moines is critical for residents who want to stay involved and up-to-date with what is happening in their community.
The political climate in Zip 50315 (Des Moines, IA) is somewhat 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 50315 (Des Moines, IA) is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines, Iowa is somewhat 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.
Des Moines, 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 50315 (Des Moines)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 614 contributions totaling $167,353 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $273 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 146 contributions totaling $72,704 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $498 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)