Switzer is a Republican stronghold. About 16% of voters here vote Democratic and 84% Republican.
About 57% of adults in Switzer typically vote, near the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Switzer, ~9% vote Democratic, ~48% Republican, and ~43% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Switzer compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Switzer leans more Republican than 49 of 148 neighbors.
Switzer runs about 26 points more Republican than West Virginia as a whole.
Why Switzer 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 Switzer, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with low college attainment vote Republican. About 4% of adults in Switzer hold a bachelor's degree, about 13 points below the West Virginia average of 17%. Rural areas with a high white share vote Republican. Non-Hispanic white share in Switzer is about 98%, about 25 points above the U.S. average of 72%.
Preventive-care access and voter turnout
Places with limited routine preventive-care access tend to turn out at a lower rate; Switzer, WV sits in the bottom tenth nationally on this measure. Dental visits do not drive turnout; the rate reflects income, insurance, and healthcare access, which line up with who votes.
Why turnout in Switzer 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. Switzer sits in the top 15% nationally on a violent-crime measure. See CrimeGrade for more details. Low high-school completion lines up with lower turnout, and about 81% of adults in Switzer have completed high school, below 88% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Monaville, WV R+67
- Chauncey, WV R+68
- Wilkinson, WV R+58
- Neibert, WV R+70
- Whitman, WV R+62
- Stollings, WV R+67
- Lyburn, WV R+67
- Omar, WV R+69
- Mount Gay-Shamrock, WV R+59
- Dabney, WV R+66
Cities with Similar Populations
- Smithwick, TX R+65
- Blue Jay, CA R+16
- Harlan, MI R+44
- Sugar Loaf, NY R+7
- Danbury, NH R+8
- Windle, TN R+69
- Oakdale, WI R+40
- Allenspark, CO D+43
- Iliff, CO R+71
- Goodman, AL R+89
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from West Virginia 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.