The small town of Elbow Lake, Minnesota (zip code 56531) is located in the center of Grant County. It is a close-knit community with a population of just over 1,500 people. Residents of Elbow Lake take pride in their town, and value its local political decisions. The town currently elects four representatives to serve on the City Council: Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Clerk and Treasurer. Each member has an equal say in decisions affecting the city and works with local organizations to ensure that the needs of all citizens are heard. The City Council meets monthly to discuss issues facing the town such as infrastructure development, business growth and social programs. These meetings provide citizens with an opportunity to voice their opinions about matters that affect them directly, ensuring that local politics are inclusive and democratic in nature.
The political climate in Zip 56531 (Elbow Lake, MN) is moderately conservative.
Grant County, MN is strongly conservative. In Grant County, MN 35.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Grant county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.1% to 35.6%.
Grant county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 56531 (Elbow Lake, MN) is moderately conservative.
Elbow Lake, Minnesota is moderately conservative.
Grant County, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Not Found Metro Area is 0.
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.
Elbow Lake, Minnesota: 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 56531 (Elbow Lake)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 98 contributions totaling $6,466 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $66 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 12 contributions totaling $1,795 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $150 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)