Spirit Lake, IA is located in Dickinson County and is a small, rural community with a population of almost 3,000 people. The area has been known for its strong sense of civic pride and local politics. In Spirit Lake, the most important political decisions are made at the city level, where the mayor and four city council members are elected by the citizens. The mayor serves as the head of the city’s government and is responsible for creating policies to protect and enhance the quality of life in Spirit Lake. The City Council also makes decisions about building codes, zoning ordinances, budgeting, public safety, and other issues that affect all citizens living in Spirit Lake. Local elections tend to be highly contested as residents take a keen interest in who will govern their city and what policies they will implement. While the individuals running for these positions may change over time, Spirit Lake remains committed to providing its residents with a safe and prosperous town to call home.
The political climate in Zip 51360 (Spirit Lake, IA) is strongly conservative.
Dickinson County, IA is very conservative. In Dickinson County, IA 32.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 66.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dickinson county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 66.2% to 32.6%.
Dickinson county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 51360 (Spirit Lake, IA) is strongly conservative.
Spirit Lake, Iowa is strongly conservative.
Dickinson County, Iowa is very conservative.
Spirit Lake Metro Area is very conservative.
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.
Spirit Lake, 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 51360 (Spirit Lake)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 264 contributions totaling $51,759 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $196 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 168 contributions totaling $64,571 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $384 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)