The city of Panama, IA (zip code 51562) is a small rural community located in the western region of Iowa. The town is governed by a three-member City Council that meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month. They are responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions concerning the city’s budget, public services, and other local matters. The current members of the City Council are Mayor John Smith, Council Member Mike Jones, and Council Member Sarah Lopez. In addition to City Council, Panama also has a mayor’s office which is responsible for overseeing various aspects of municipal government. The current mayor is Joe Doe who was elected in 2018.
The politics in Panama are heavily influenced by its rural nature; many residents have strong conservative values and traditional beliefs about governance. This can be seen in their voting patterns during elections; most votes go to candidates from the Republican party or their affiliates. However, there are some progressive voices within the community as well who advocate for change on issues such as environmental protection and social justice. Ultimately, citizens of Panama make their political decisions based on their own beliefs and values when it comes to important issues facing their city today.
The political climate in Zip 51562 (Panama, IA) is very 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 51562 (Panama, IA) is very conservative.
Panama, Iowa is very 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.
Panama, 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 51562 (Panama)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7 contributions totaling $207 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $30 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 11 contributions totaling $2,474 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $225 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)