The small town of Harlan, IA (51537) is part of Shelby County and has a population of 5,284 individuals according to the 2010 census. The politics in 51537 Harlan, IA are shaped by the local government and law makers like the city council and mayor who are elected on a four-year term. While there are no specific political candidates associated with 51537 Harlan, IA, many of the issues in town are affected by state and national politics. Issues that affect the citizens include education, healthcare, infrastructure improvements, job opportunities and more. The local government works hard to ensure that the needs of its citizens are met and that all voices within the community are heard. All citizens have an opportunity to be involved in their politics and make sure their voice is heard through voting and attending public forums.
The political climate in Zip 51537 (Harlan, IA) is strongly conservative.
Shelby County, IA is very conservative. In Shelby County, IA 28.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 69.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Shelby county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 69.1% to 28.8%.
Shelby county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 51537 (Harlan, IA) is strongly conservative.
Harlan, Iowa is strongly conservative.
Shelby County, Iowa is very conservative.
Not Found Metro Area is 0.
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.
Harlan, Iowa: R R r R R R
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 51537 (Harlan)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 34 contributions totaling $4,207 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 106 contributions totaling $13,693 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)