The Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI) is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole. The Cook Political Report introduced the PVI in August of 1997 to better gauge the competitiveness of each district using the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections as a baseline. The index is based on analysis by the Center for Voting and Democracy (now FairVote) for its July 1997 Monopoly Politics report.
The Cook PVI is formatted as a letter, plus sign, and number:
- Letter: The major party, Democratic (D) or Republican (R), to which the district leans
- Number: The extent of that lean, in rounded percentage points
For districts without a lean, the index written as "EVEN" without a number.
Read more about Cook Partisan Voting Index: Calculation
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