Voter Turnout in America

In the 2024 presidential election, about 65% of eligible Americans voted. That sounds like a decent number until you consider the flip side: roughly 80 million adults who could have voted simply didn't. In midterm elections, it's worse—barely half show up. And in primaries, the elections that decide who makes it onto the ballot in the first place, turnout drops to around 20%.

Voter turnout isn't just a statistic. It's the single biggest factor in determining who represents you, what policies get passed, and whose voices are heard. When turnout is low, elections are decided by a smaller, less representative slice of the population. When it's high, the government looks more like the country it serves.

The Numbers: How Many Americans Vote?

The States United Democracy Center tracks voter turnout across every U.S. election since 2000. Their data tells a clear story: general election turnout has fluctuated between 56% and 68%, while primary turnout has ranged between just 18% and 29%. Average turnout for general elections is more than twice as high as primary turnout.

Source: States United Democracy Center, U.S. Elections Project

The gap between presidential and midterm years is striking: turnout typically drops 15 to 20 percentage points when the presidency isn't on the ballot. In 2014, midterm turnout hit just 34.4%—the lowest since 1942. That means two out of three eligible voters sat out an election that decided every seat in the House and a third of the Senate.

The Trend: Are We Getting Better?

There's actually good news here. After decades of declining turnout from the 1960s through the 1990s, Americans have been voting in larger numbers.

States United also found that ballot roll-off—voters who fill out the top of the ticket but leave lower races blank—dropped dramatically. From 2000 to 2012, about 4% of voters skipped down-ballot contests. By 2024, that number fell to less than 1%. Voters are engaging with the full ballot more than ever.

The Primary Problem

If general election turnout has been improving, primary elections remain the weak point. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, nearly 80% of eligible voters don't participate in primaries. In 2024, only about 34 million out of roughly 149 million eligible voters cast a primary ballot—a turnout of about 23%.

This matters because primaries determine who appears on the general election ballot. In many districts where one party dominates, the primary winner is virtually guaranteed to win the general election. That means a tiny fraction of voters—sometimes just 10 to 15%—effectively chooses the representative for everyone.

Want to know what type of primary your state uses? Check out our guide on open vs. closed primaries.

Where Turnout Is Lowest—and Why

Turnout varies enormously from state to state. In the 2024 presidential election, the gap between the highest-turnout and lowest-turnout states was over 25 percentage points.

These patterns are consistent across multiple election cycles. The reasons fall into a few categories:

Who Votes—and Who Doesn't

Voter turnout isn't just a question of how many people vote. It's a question of which people vote. When turnout is low, the electorate doesn't look like America.

Education

Education is the single strongest predictor of whether someone will vote. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the gap is stark:

Among young adults (18–24), the gap is even wider: 60% of bachelor's degree holders voted in 2016, compared to just 20% of those who never finished high school.

Age

Older Americans consistently vote at much higher rates than younger ones. In 2020, adults aged 65–74 turned out at about 76%, while 18–24-year-olds turned out at 51.4%. In midterms, youth turnout drops even further—to about 28% in 2022. Adults under 50 make up 64% of non-voters but only 36% of voters.

Race and Ethnicity

The Brennan Center for Justice found that the turnout gap between white and nonwhite Americans grew from nearly equal in 2012 to 12 percentage points by 2022. White Americans voted at higher rates than nonwhite Americans in every single state except Hawaii. This gap persists across all income and education levels, which suggests it can't be explained by socioeconomic factors alone.

Research from CIRCLE at Tufts University found especially wide gaps among young voters in 2024: young white voters turned out at 55%, while young Black voter turnout was 34% and young Latino voter turnout was 32%.

Income

Income tracks closely with turnout. According to Pew Research Center, households earning over $100,000 voted at about 81% in 2020, while those earning under $20,000 voted at just 33% in the 2022 midterms. Homeowners vote at 58% in midterms versus just 37% for renters. Among young non-voters, 62% say they sometimes or often find it difficult to make ends meet—financial hardship is a real barrier.

Trust Matters: The Confidence-Turnout Connection

States United conducted a first-of-its-kind study matching pre-election survey responses from over 1,110 Americans to their verified voting records. What they found was striking: when Americans have low confidence in elections, they're less likely to vote.

How the U.S. Compares Internationally

Even at its best, U.S. turnout trails most similar democracies around the world. According to Pew Research Center, the U.S. ranked 31st out of 50 countries in voter turnout. Countries like Uruguay (95%), Sweden (82%), and Belgium (78%) routinely outperform the U.S.

Here's the thing, though: among people who are actually registered to vote, U.S. turnout is about 85%—one of the highest in the world. The real gap is that the U.S. makes you register yourself, while most other countries register their citizens automatically. If you're not registered, you can't vote—and that one extra step keeps millions of people out.

What Drives Turnout Up?

Research consistently shows that both policy and events can dramatically affect who votes.

The Elections Nobody Tells You About

There's one more type of election that almost never makes the news: special elections. When a seat becomes vacant before the officeholder's term is up—because someone resigned, died, was appointed to another position, or was removed—the governor (or another authority, depending on the state) calls a special election to fill it.

You've probably heard of the high-profile ones. When JD Vance left his Ohio Senate seat to become Vice President and Marco Rubio left his Florida Senate seat to become Secretary of State, both triggered special elections. But special elections happen at every level—state house, state senate, county seats—and the smaller ones get almost zero media coverage.

Right now, in early 2026, there are special elections happening across the country that most people don't know about. Florida alone has special elections for House District 87 and Senate District 4, with registration deadlines that have already passed or are coming up fast. Louisiana, New Jersey, and other states have their own.

The only reliable way to find out about special elections in your area is to check your county supervisor of elections website or your state's Secretary of State page. That's it. Nobody is going to knock on your door and tell you. Want to understand how special elections work in more detail? Read our guide on special elections.

Looking Ahead: 2026 and the Power of Showing Up

Here's what's different right now.

Over the past year, Americans have been paying unusually close attention to how government works—not as an abstract concept, but as something that directly affects their lives. People who may have never thought twice about executive orders are now watching them get signed and challenged in court. People who may have skipped over news about congressional hearings are now tuning in to see officials questioned under oath. Terms like filibuster, due process, and separation of powers have gone from textbook vocabulary to dinner table conversation.

The numbers reflect this. According to CivicScience, over a third of Americans say they're paying more attention to political news than usual, with 41% of likely midterm voters reporting increased attention. Polls show 76% of voters are extremely or very motivated to vote in November 2026—on par with the enthusiasm that produced the historic turnout of 2018 and 2022. And 66% of all voting-age adults plan to vote in the midterms.

A growing number of Americans—now 32% of registered voters—aren't registered with either major party, up from 23% in 2000. Among young people, only 16% say "democracy is working for them," yet 20% have engaged in issue advocacy and 18% have attended protests or demonstrations. People are frustrated, but they're not tuning out. They're looking for ways to be heard.

Sources

• States United Democracy Center — Voter Turnout Since 2000
• States United — When Americans Trust Elections, They Vote
• U.S. Elections Project — National Voter Turnout (1789–Present)
• Pew Research Center — Voter Turnout, 2018–2022
• Pew Research Center — U.S. Turnout Compared to Other Countries
• Bipartisan Policy Center — 2022 Primary Turnout Report
• Brennan Center for Justice — Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout
• CIRCLE at Tufts University — 25 Things We Learned About Young Voters
• U.S. Census Bureau — 2024 Voting and Registration Tables
• CivicScience — Political Attention Rises as Midterms Approach
• FairVote — Ranked Choice Voting and Voter Turnout