Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA · how this place’s counties split between candidates in each party’s presidential nominating contest, cycle by cycle. A primary is a contest inside one party, so it has no Democratic–Republican margin and is not part of the general-election record above.
Akashic reports votes cast, not delegates awarded. The two can disagree: Clinton led the 2008 national primary popular vote by less than half a point and did not win the nomination.
Primary returns are published at county grain and there is no roll-up above it. Each cell counts how many of this place’s counties a candidate led — a count of records, not a vote total. Who led the place as a whole is not knowable from these returns, because county rows carry a leader and a lead but no per-candidate votes.
Presidential nominating contests in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, by party and cycle.
○no contest record — Akashic holds no result for that party and cycle here. It is not a claim that no contest was held. Telling apart a contest that was cancelled, one that went uncontested, and one simply not yet ingested needs a nominating-contest calendar, which is a separate ingest from results and does not exist yet.
Republican presidential primaries are not yet ingested — the Republican series runs from 1856 and is in scope. The row is kept so its absence is visible: a Democratic-only panel would otherwise read as though no one else held a contest.
Akashic carries 10 states for 2012 and 3 states for 2024. Cycles in which an incumbent president seeks renomination are thin by nature — few states run a contested primary — so a sparse column is politics, not a hole in the record.
County returns carry a leader and a lead over the runner-up, and nothing more. The full candidate field with vote shares is published at state grain — follow a cycle above to the state contest for it.
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2024D+3.3
vs
Presidential vote · 2024D+1.6
Registration and the presidential vote track closely here — within 1.7 points.
DemocraticRepublicanUnaffiliatedOther parties
Voter registration in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
Year
Total registered
Democratic
Republican
Unaffiliated
Other
2008
413,473
161,155
120,133
131,988
197
2010
392,492
148,238
122,173
121,664
417
2012
411,356
148,248
130,658
131,825
625
2014
417,890
144,322
130,884
141,199
1,485
2016
441,508
157,250
140,167
141,170
2,921
2018
453,576
162,912
136,032
150,156
4,476
2020
484,725
187,332
147,757
144,707
4,929
2022
492,295
181,903
149,355
156,002
5,035
2024
506,924
173,877
157,279
170,375
5,393
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+2,791 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net +58,433 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+3,311
2012
+2,716
2013
+4,619
2014
+5,463
2015
+4,211
2016
+5,629
2017
+4,888
2018
+4,793
2019
+3,718
2021
+5,886
2022
+3,511
2023
+2,656
2024
+4,241
2025
+2,791
The Des Moines–West Des Moines metro casts roughly a quarter of Iowa's statewide vote, and its fast-growing suburban collar counties have shifted margins noticeably over successive election cycles, making it a reliable bellwether for statewide outcomes.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 32.0 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 49.5 points in 1924. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 4.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 1.6 points.
A population of 731,120, a 77% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $86,618 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Madison, WI and Iowa City, IA.
Akashic
Political twins — metros
The metros whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/19780/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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How did Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa vote in 2024?
In 2024, Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa voted Democratic by 1.6 points (D+1.6), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 389,372 votes cast, 194,312 went Democratic and 188,111 went Republican.
When did Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa voted Republican was 1980.
How many people live in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa?
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa has a population of 731,120 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa?
Median household income in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa is $86,618 — above the national median of $80,734. The Iowa state median is $75,059.
What is the political history of Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, Iowa from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 16 went Republican.
