Cook, IL County is a heavily populated county in the heart of Illinois. The local political scene is diverse and active. Residents of Cook County have a multitude of choices when it comes to selecting their representatives at the state, federal, and local levels. Candidates from both major parties typically do well in elections here, as does an active third-party movement that looks for alternative solutions to the county's issues. Because this area is so populous and engaged politically, many candidates make frequent appearances at public events and debates to discuss issues that are important to the people of Cook. In particular, many candidates focus on bringing economic growth, improving infrastructure, and creating better educational opportunities for all residents. This vibrant political culture makes Cook County an exciting place to live for anyone who wants to be involved in the political process.
The political climate in Cook County, IL is very liberal.
In Cook County, IL 74.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 24.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cook county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 74.2% to 24.0%.
Cook county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Cook County, IL is very liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Illinois is moderately liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Cook, Illinois: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Cook County, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 423,022 contributions totaling $176,916,674 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $418 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 43,272 contributions totaling $70,573,337 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,631 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)