How does voter turnout in midterms compare to presidential elections?
About this video
John Dickerson explains that voter turnout is usually much lower in midterm elections than in presidential elections, because modern American politics revolves around the president, who is not on the midterm ballot. He also describes a trend of older, Republican-leaning voters turning out more in midterms than younger voters and voters of color.
You'll be able to
- compare voter turnout in midterm and presidential elections.
- explain why the focus on the president lowers midterm turnout.
- describe which groups have tended to vote more in midterms and why that matters for the parties.
Key words
- voter turnout
- The share of eligible people who actually vote in an election.
- midterm election
- A congressional election held in the middle of a president's term.
- off-year election
- Another name for an election held in a year with no presidential race.
- celebrity president
- A president whose fame and personality make him the center of public attention.
Transcript
- [Interviewer] How does voter turnout in midterms compare to presidential elections?
- Traditionally, midterm elections have been years in which the voter turnout is much lower than a presidential election, and particularly in recent history where the American political scene has been really dominated by the president. We can start that really with John F. Kennedy, when he became a celebrity president and really everybody increasingly has just sort of seen American political activity originating and swirling around a president.
And so if they're interested in the president, well, they turn out for the presidential election. But in the off-year elections, in the midterms, well, the president's not really on the ballot even if some people tend to see the elections as a referendum on his presidency.
So people turn out in lower numbers. We've also seen a trend, and it may be upturned in 2018, but a trend where Republican voters, who tend to be older, participate in the voting in midterm elections more than younger voters, who tend to vote Democratic, or voters of color, who vote for the Democratic Party as well.
That's always been one of the challenges for Democrats, to get their team to turn out and vote in these midterm elections.
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