Bark River, MI is a small rural town located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It has a history of political activism and involvement, with many residents taking an active interest in local politics. The town has a Mayor-Council form of government, with the Mayor as the chief executive who is elected to 4-year terms. The Town Council is composed of six members, also elected to 4-year terms. The Council is responsible for passing ordinances and resolutions that determine how the community operates. Local elections are held every four years for both Mayor and Council seats. Every year residents are invited to attend public meetings and participate in the town’s decision making process by providing input on key issues. Bark River prides itself on having a strong sense of civic engagement and involvement from its citizens in local politics and other aspects of their community life.
The political climate in Zip 49807 (Bark River, MI) is strongly conservative.
Delta County, MI is strongly conservative. In Delta County, MI 35.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Delta county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.4% to 35.9%.
Delta county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 49807 (Bark River, MI) is strongly conservative.
Bark River, Michigan is strongly conservative.
Delta County, Michigan is strongly conservative.
Escanaba Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Michigan is leaning liberal.
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.
Bark River, Michigan: 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 49807 (Bark River)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 14 contributions totaling $2,655 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $190 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 8 contributions totaling $9,400 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,175 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)