The politics of Des Moines, IA, zip code 50309 is an interesting topic to explore. Located in Polk County, the city of Des Moines is the capital of Iowa and has a rich history when it comes to politics. The government has a mayor-council form of government with Mayor Frank Cownie and eight council members who are elected from single-member wards. As the seat of state government, Des Moines is involved in many state laws that shape the political landscape. Additionally, local issues such as policing, development, infrastructure maintenance and public services play an important role in city decision making. Residents can get involved in local politics by volunteering or running for office themselves. There are also many community activists and non-profit organizations working to make a difference in our city.
The political climate in Zip 50309 (Des Moines, IA) is moderately 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 50309 (Des Moines, IA) is moderately liberal.
Des Moines, Iowa is moderately 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 50309 (Des Moines)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,465 contributions totaling $774,127 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $528 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 204 contributions totaling $267,241 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,310 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)