Upper Leatherwood is a Republican stronghold. About 17% of voters here vote Democratic and 83% Republican.
About 52% of adults in Upper Leatherwood typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Upper Leatherwood, ~9% vote Democratic, ~43% Republican, and ~48% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Upper Leatherwood compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Upper Leatherwood leans more Republican than 114 of 126 neighbors.
Upper Leatherwood runs about 24 points more Republican than West Virginia as a whole.
Why Upper Leatherwood 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 Upper Leatherwood, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with low college attainment vote Republican. About 8% of adults in Upper Leatherwood hold a bachelor's degree, about 9 points below the West Virginia average of 17%. Rural areas with a high white share vote Republican. Non-Hispanic white share in Upper Leatherwood is about 97%, well above similar-sized cities (around 75%).
Paved land cover and Republican lean
Places with little paved surface tend to lean Republican; Upper Leatherwood, WV 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 Upper Leatherwood looks the way it does
Areas with high food insecurity turn out at lower rates. About 23% of adults in Upper Leatherwood report food insecurity, about 7 points above the U.S. average of 16%. Low high-school completion lines up with lower turnout, and about 75% of adults in Upper Leatherwood have completed high school, below 96% of cities. High-crime urban areas turn out at lower rates, and Upper Leatherwood sits in the top 15% on a violent-crime measure. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Clay, WV R+63
- Bickmore, WV R+68
- Maysel, WV R+62
- Fola, WV R+69
- Spread, WV R+63
- Rosedale, WV R+56
- Indore, WV R+66
- Procious, WV R+62
- Ivydale, WV R+57
Cities with Similar Populations
- Jaketown, MS R+38
- Hooker, AR R+53
- Kinterbish, AL D+54
- Kief, ND R+61
- Ingleside, PA R+39
- Lintner, IL R+58
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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.