RALEIGH, NC – Today, the Civitas Institute released the updated Civitas Partisan Index. This tool reflects the political balance of power in North Carolina. Modeled after the Cook Partisan Voting Index, the Civitas Partisan Index (CPI) compares the political leanings of voters in each state house and senate district with the partisan voting tendencies of the state as a whole. The result is a letter (D or R) followed by a number, indicating the extent to which each district leans one way or the other.
The CPI utilizes voter data from presidential election year results for governor and the other Council of State offices. Although President and U.S. Senate election results are also available, state-level races give a more accurate picture of how voters will vote in a state legislative race than do national races.
“CPI is a unique tool in North Carolina, and perhaps the nation. We are proud to be able to provide this level of analysis for North Carolina citizens, lobbyists, and politicos,” said Donald Bryson, president of the Civitas Institute. “We constantly strive to inform the public policy debate and process in the Old North State, and CPI helps point to the areas of the state that will receive the most robust policy debates this year.”
Although the CPI does not predict elections, it is a unique tool that reveals which direction districts lean, which may illuminate significant trends.
The updated CPI finds nine (9) state house districts and six (6) state senate districts to be very competitive with ratings between D+3 and R+3.
This glimpse into voter tendency, broken down into state house and senate districts, provides analysts, journalists, candidates, and other interested parties with a more full-bodied context of each district’s leanings
We invite you to check out your legislative districts on the CPI.
Founded in 2005, the Civitas Institute is a Raleigh, NC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit policy organization that fights to remove barriers to freedom so that all North Carolinians can enjoy a better life.
