Wounded Knee, SD Political Map | Democrat & Republican Areas in Wounded Knee

By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated May 2026.

Wounded Knee is a Democratic stronghold. About 79% of voters here vote Democratic and 21% Republican.

 

About 31% of adults in Wounded Knee typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Wounded Knee, ~25% vote Democratic, ~6% Republican, and ~69% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.

How Wounded Knee compares

Among cities within 25 miles, Wounded Knee leans more Democratic than 6 of 10 neighbors.

Wounded Knee runs about 87 points more Democratic than South Dakota as a whole. South Dakota leans Republican overall, while Wounded Knee is one of the few Democratic-leaning pockets.

Why Wounded Knee 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 Wounded Knee, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.

Wounded Knee votes against the grain of South Dakota. South Dakota leans Republican overall, while Wounded Knee runs about 87 points more Democratic. A high never-married share predicts Democratic voting, and about 69% of adults in Wounded Knee have never been married, in the top fraction of cities.

Cancer-screening access and voter turnout

Places with low colon-cancer-screening access tend to turn out at a lower rate; Wounded Knee, SD sits in the bottom tenth nationally on this measure. Cancer screening does not drive turnout; it reflects income, insurance, and healthcare access.

Why turnout in Wounded Knee looks the way it does

Areas with limited routine healthcare access turn out at lower rates. Wounded Knee is in the bottom quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 31%, about 34 points below the South Dakota average of 66%. Renters vote less often than owners, and about 77% of households in Wounded Knee rent, compared to around 50% in nearby cities. Low high-school completion lines up with lower turnout, and about 56% of adults in Wounded Knee have completed high school, in the bottom fraction of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.

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Sources and methodology

Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from South Dakota 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.