Rathbun is a Republican stronghold. About 24% of voters here vote Democratic and 76% Republican.
About 82% of adults in Rathbun typically vote, above the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Rathbun, ~20% vote Democratic, ~62% Republican, and ~18% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Rathbun compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Rathbun leans more Republican than 19 of 46 neighbors.
Rathbun runs about 39 points more Republican than Iowa as a whole.
Why Rathbun 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 Rathbun, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with many family households vote Republican. About 78% of households in Rathbun are family households, about 12 points above the U.S. average of 67%.
Population density and Republican lean
Places with low population density tend to lean Republican; Rathbun, IA sits in the bottom quarter nationally on this measure.
Why turnout in Rathbun looks the way it does
Areas with strong routine healthcare access turn out at higher rates. Rathbun is in the top quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 68%, about 8 points above the U.S. average of 60%. Homeowners vote more often than renters, and about 94% of households in Rathbun own their home, compared to around 78% in nearby cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Forbush, IA R+46
- Mystic, IA R+51
- Walnut City, IA R+53
- Moravia, IA R+51
- Centerville, IA R+34
- Sunshine, IA R+53
- Udell, IA R+51
- Thirty, IA R+46
- Garfield, IA R+50
Cities with Similar Populations
- Rosen, MN R+58
- Yetter, IA R+57
- Swiftwater, NH R+21
- Kingsmill, TX R+87
- Swaim, AL R+72
- Glaze City, TX R+72
- Mount Cobb, PA R+31
- Littlelot, TN R+65
- Pollard, AL R+85
- Carthage, SD R+57
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Iowa 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.