West Branch, IA is a small town located in Cedar County. Although the population of the town is relatively small, politics still play a major role in shaping the community. Local elections for mayor, council members and school board representatives are held every few years to ensure that the people of West Branch have their voices heard and can be involved in local decisions. The political parties represented in West Branch include the Democratic Party, Republican Party and independent candidates. Issues such as education, healthcare, taxes and public safety are discussed across all parties and an effort is made to work together for the betterment of the community. All candidates must live within West Branch in order to stand for office or serve on any committees. There is no doubt that politics influence what happens in West Branch but this helps keep citizens informed and involved, ensuring their voices are heard when it comes to making important decisions for the future of the town.
The political climate in West Branch, IA is moderately conservative.
Cedar County, IA is moderately conservative. In Cedar County, IA 40.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cedar county remained very strongly Republican, 57.6% to 40.5%.
Cedar county voted Republican in 2020, 2016 and 2004, and Democratic in 2012, 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
West Branch, IA is moderately conservative.
Cedar County, Iowa is moderately 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.
West Branch, Iowa: d r d d 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 if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. 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 West Branch, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 658 contributions totaling $45,454 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 112 contributions totaling $16,018 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $143 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)