Walnut Grove leans heavily Republican by roughly 50 points: about 25% of voters vote Democratic and 75% Republican.
About 66% of adults in Walnut Grove typically vote, near the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Walnut Grove, ~17% vote Democratic, ~49% Republican, and ~34% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Walnut Grove compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Walnut Grove leans more Republican than 36 of 53 neighbors.
Walnut Grove runs about 61 points more Republican than Illinois as a whole. Illinois leans Democratic overall, while Walnut Grove is one of the few Republican-leaning pockets.
Why Walnut Grove 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 Walnut Grove, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Walnut Grove votes against the grain of Illinois. Illinois leans Democratic overall, while Walnut Grove runs about 61 points more Republican. Car-dependent areas vote Republican, and about 87% of residents in Walnut Grove drive to work alone, above 88% of cities.
High-school completion, developed land, and voter turnout
Places that combine high-school-completion-heavy adults and a rural land-use pattern tend to turn out at a higher rate, as Walnut Grove, IL does.
Why turnout in Walnut Grove looks the way it does
Areas with high high-school completion turn out at higher rates. About 96% of adults in Walnut Grove have completed high school, about 7 points above the U.S. average of 90%. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Good Hope, IL R+49
- Youngstown, IL R+48
- Swan Creek, IL R+45
- Sciota, IL R+42
- Bushnell, IL R+38
- Bardolph, IL R+48
- Roseville, IL R+41
- Prairie City, IL R+55
- Greenbush, IL R+42
- Macomb, IL D+8
Cities with Similar Populations
- Byrds Creek, WI R+27
- Stellar, TX R+67
- Florey, TX R+84
- Tolstoy, SD R+69
- Riverside, WI R+40
- White Pines, CA R+18
- Wickliffe, IN R+54
- Camp Crook, SD R+88
- Lyonsdale, NY R+45
- Jacob, IL R+52
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Illinois State Board of 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.