The small city of Salem, Iowa is a quiet and peaceful community of 52649 people. Salem is served by a mayor-council form of government, in which a mayor and five council members are elected to serve two-year terms. The current mayor and council members represent the interests and values of the citizens of Salem through their work in local government. Local political candidates run for office every two years, offering their ideas on how to best serve the community. These candidates typically come from within the city limits, though there are occasionally out-of-towners who will make a run at a local office. The political process in Salem is largely centered around addressing issues like public safety, infrastructure improvements, and public works initiatives. Despite its small size, Salem is an active participant in regional politics as well, with many residents taking part in larger state and national elections.
The political climate in Zip 52649 (Salem, IA) is strongly conservative.
Henry County, IA is very conservative. In Henry County, IA 32.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 65.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Henry county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 65.2% to 32.8%.
Henry county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 52649 (Salem, IA) is strongly conservative.
Salem, Iowa is strongly conservative.
Henry 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.
Salem, 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 52649 (Salem)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 32 contributions totaling $4,150 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $130 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2 contributions totaling $500 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $250 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)