Southwest Area leans Democratic by roughly 20 points: about 60% of voters vote Democratic and 40% Republican.
About 61% of adults in Southwest Area typically vote, near the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Southwest Area, ~37% vote Democratic, ~24% Republican, and ~39% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Southwest Area compares
Southwest Area sits in a sparsely populated area with few comparable neighborhoods nearby.
Southwest Area runs about 34 points more Democratic than Iowa as a whole. Iowa leans Republican overall, while Southwest Area is one of the few Democratic-leaning pockets.
Politics vary noticeably by block within Southwest Area. The south side is the most Democratic-leaning (D+29) and the north side is the least Democratic-leaning (D+13), a spread of about 16 points.
Why Southwest Area leans the way it does
This analysis examined 14,881 data points per neighborhood to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Southwest Area, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Southwest Area votes against the grain of Iowa. Iowa leans Republican overall, while Southwest Area runs about 34 points more Democratic. A high never-married share predicts Democratic voting, and about 51% of adults in Southwest Area have never been married, above 84% of neighborhoods.
Non-English at home and voter turnout
Places with a high non-English-at-home share tend to turn out at a lower rate; Southwest Area, Cedar Rapids, IA sits in the top tenth nationally on this measure.
Why turnout in Southwest Area looks the way it does
High-crime urban areas turn out at lower rates, mostly because the housing stress common in those areas makes voting harder. Southwest Area sits in the top 15% nationally on a violent-crime measure. See CrimeGrade for more details. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Neighborhoods
- Taylor, Cedar Rapids, IA D+24
- Cedar Hills, Cedar Rapids, IA D+20
- Penn, North Liberty, IA D+23
- Wickham, Coralville, IA D+34
- Kirkwood, Coralville, IA D+52
- Mann, Iowa City, IA D+51
- Weber, Iowa City, IA D+46
- Roosevelt, Iowa City, IA D+55
- Longfellow, Iowa City, IA D+48
- Lucas, Iowa City, IA D+45
Neighborhoods with Similar Populations
- Shaw, St. Louis, MO D+75
- Columbia Forest, Arlington, VA D+51
- Lindenville, South San Francisco, CA D+40
- East Gloucester, Gloucester, MA D+16
- Delta, Everett, WA D+16
- Lower South Providence, Providence, RI D+39
- West University, Tucson, AZ D+58
- Century City, Los Angeles, CA D+42
- Pelican Bay, Naples, FL R+23
- Plaza-Eastway, Charlotte, NC D+74
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.