The small city of Battle Lake, MN (56515) is an interesting example of local politics. While it has a population of only about 634 people, this rural community still takes politics seriously. All of the decisions within the city are voted on by the residents in regular elections. The town mayor and four council members are elected to two-year terms from among the town's eligible voters and all decisions affecting Battle Lake are made within these elections. Recently, there have been several candidates running for office in Battle Lake, each having their own ideas and views on how to best serve the city's needs and interests. One thing that is certain however, is that locals take great pride in their political involvement and they are committed to making sure that their voices are heard.
The political climate in Zip 56515 (Battle Lake, MN) is strongly conservative.
Otter Tail County, MN is very conservative. In Otter Tail County, MN 32.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 65.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Otter Tail county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 65.4% to 32.9%.
Otter Tail county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 56515 (Battle Lake, MN) is strongly conservative.
Battle Lake, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Otter Tail County, Minnesota is very conservative.
Fergus Falls Metro Area is very conservative.
Minnesota 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.
Battle Lake, Minnesota: 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 56515 (Battle Lake)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 159 contributions totaling $4,237 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $27 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 32 contributions totaling $3,449 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $108 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)