akashic
1876–2024
Polk County, Florida
Polk County·Florida

Polk County voted Democratic for a century. The shift began with civil rights.

A citrus-belt county that has drifted steadily rightward over two decades

18762024·38 elections
Polk County, Florida · Ebyabe · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+21
in 2024
Archetype
Old Confederacy
since the recent cycles
Population
790,694
2024 ACS
Most similar
Brevard County
FL · similarity 0.99
172 precincts · 348,883 votes cast
Trump · R+21
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−20.7%
136,848209,030348,883
2020R
−14.4%
145,049194,586343,256
2016R
−14.1%
117,433157,430284,314
2012R
−6.8%
114,622131,577248,683
2008R
−6.1%
113,865128,878244,833
2004R
−17.8%
86,009123,559210,830
2000R
−9.0%
75,20790,310168,629
1996R
−0.8%
66,74767,962150,173
1992R
−9.9%
51,45065,963145,900
1988R
−33.5%
38,24977,104116,040
1984R
−40.7%
35,51684,246119,784
1980R
−15.4%
43,32759,651106,315
1976D
+3.3%
47,28644,23892,706
1972R
−57.2%
16,41960,74877,460
1968R
−15.9%
15,89827,83975,277
1964R
−10.0%
29,35535,90665,261
1960R
−14.6%
23,54631,61855,164
1956R
−12.0%
18,62623,68242,308
1952R
−3.3%
19,55620,87440,430
1948D
+19.0%
12,0347,69222,892
1944D
+43.7%
13,1525,15018,302
1940D
+52.1%
17,6905,56423,254
1936D
+43.0%
10,4414,16414,605
1932D
+46.1%
9,4633,49012,953
1928R
−23.3%
4,5767,46012,386
1924D
+29.1%
3,0701,5305,296
1920D
+35.9%
3,9181,7825,949
1916D
+59.0%
2,5745783,381
1912D
+66.4%
1,5201062,128
1908D
+53.5%
1,2512901,797
1904D
+69.7%
8691251,067
1900D
+68.8%
9831331,235
1896D
+57.8%
1,1552791,515
1892D
+81.9%
86901,061
1888
No data
1884D
+84.8%
75562817
1880
No data
1876
No data
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
100.0%
Polish
0.8%
African American
11.7%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Other Christian
14.0%
Catholic & Orthodox
9.5%
Baptist
8.0%
Pentecostal & Holiness
4.8%
Methodist
2.7%
Mainline Protestant
1.8%
Non-Christian
0.8%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 58.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Polk sits between Tampa and Orlando but votes more like rural Florida, with its mix of agricultural towns, phosphate industry workers, and fast-growing exurban subdivisions producing a 20-point Republican margin in 2024.

The shift began with civil rights. 1980 marked the realignment in Polk County, by a fifteen points margin. The Republican margin reached its widest at fifty-seven points in 1972. The 2024 margin was twenty-one points.

The political shift has tracked, in Polk County, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 56% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $65,978, and a 15% poverty rate describe the demographic context. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Brevard County and Manatee County.