Ruthven, IA is a small town in the northwest corner of Iowa with a population of around 600 people. The city is served by the Ruthven-Ayrshire Community School District and is home to many family-run businesses. Locally, Ruthven has one representative on the Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors and participates in local elections for mayor and other city council positions. Elections are held every four years, with all eligible citizens encouraged to vote. As a rural community, Ruthven places importance on agriculture and quality education for its youth. With strong leadership from local government officials, Ruthven continues to thrive as a vibrant part of the Iowa landscape.
The political climate in Zip 51358 (Ruthven, IA) is strongly conservative.
Palo Alto County, IA is very conservative. In Palo Alto County, IA 30.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Palo Alto county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.0% to 30.6%.
Palo Alto county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 51358 (Ruthven, IA) is strongly conservative.
Ruthven, Iowa is strongly conservative.
Palo Alto 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.
Ruthven, Iowa: r r d 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 51358 (Ruthven)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 40 contributions totaling $9,940 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $249 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 7 contributions totaling $502 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)