Mud Butte, SD Political Map | Democrat & Republican Areas in Mud Butte

By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated May 2026.

Mud Butte is a Republican stronghold. About 9% of voters here vote Democratic and 91% Republican.

 

About 59% of adults in Mud Butte typically vote, near the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Mud Butte, ~5% vote Democratic, ~54% Republican, and ~41% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.

How Mud Butte compares

Among cities within 25 miles, Mud Butte leans more Republican than 2 of 4 neighbors.

Mud Butte runs about 53 points more Republican than South Dakota as a whole.

Why Mud Butte leans the way it does

This analysis examined 14,881 data points per city to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Mud Butte, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.

Rural areas vote Republican. About 2% of residents in Mud Butte live in densely developed areas, about 8 points below the South Dakota average of 9%.

Paved land cover and Republican lean

Places with little paved surface tend to lean Republican; Mud Butte, SD sits in the bottom tenth nationally on this measure. Paved ground does not change how people vote; it mostly reflects how urban and built-up a place is.

Why turnout in Mud Butte looks the way it does

Renters vote less often than owners. About 38% of households in Mud Butte rent, about 13 points above the U.S. average of 25%. Low high-school completion lines up with lower turnout, and about 95% of adults in Mud Butte have completed high school, above 80% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.

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Sources and methodology

Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from South Dakota Secretary of State, Elections, distributed by the Voting and Election Science Team. Demographic inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 5-year estimates and the 2020 Decennial Census). Health and environmental inputs come from the CDC (PLACES and the Environmental Justice Index). Land cover comes from the USGS and EPA. Election-day and lead-up weather come from PRISM 4km daily grids and the NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network. Mail-voting and election-administration patterns come from the MIT Election Lab's Survey of the Performance of American Elections. Block-group crime detail comes from CrimeGrade. Internet data and modeling support provided by ISPreports.org.

Modeling and analysis by the BestNeighborhood data science team. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.

Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.