WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago - or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.
Click here to read the entire report.
The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.
“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.
“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”
Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.
According to the report, several Southern states - North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi - and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.
Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.
In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.
From CNN Politics
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Interesting – that means that it wasn't a lot of newbees voting for Barack Obama – which is even more significant --
LOL LMAO.......and these gullible people keep saying how special Obama is. LOL......He's not special...he just has good timing. After Bush, people would have voted for Mickey Mouse if he had a (D) after his name.
This is surprising but understandable. With evangelicals believing that God never official endorsed John McCain, you can image that turnout in some areas would drop.
I think it's a little bit too early for such conclusions.
My understanding is that in many states they are still counting provisional ballots, while in some states (including California) some precints are still entirely missing from the available data.
well there you have it for those conspiracy theorists that think there was voter fraud. what happened was many million people regretted their choice for Bush and corrected it while many millions still are too stupid to understand and voted for more of the same.
Flat wrong! Around 115M people voted in 2004. This time best estimates put it at 133.3M, a 16% increase. Voter turn-out this year is only exceeded by the 1960 election. I have no idea where AU is getting it's numbers, but they are not correct.
Whoever wrote this article has a problem with basic mathematics. The percentage turnout shouldn't be higher. No one expected it to be higher. For it to be higher, people who were registered to vote in 2004 but didn't vote would have to vote in numbers. The significant thing about this election wasn't long registered voters who suddenly started voting again, it was people who never voted who registered to vote specifically so they could vote in this election. So registered voter numbers were higher, and voter numbers were higher, but turnout percentage should pretty much be the same.
I know for a fact that a lot of ex-republicans over 65 voted for Obama in NC. Mixed race, too, not just blacks or whites.
How about making this front page news....
People voted against Bush not necessarily for Obama
Democratic leadership
It’s time to consolidate the party’s appeal to “real America”. By this, I don’t mean a geographic area (like Ms. Palin or Mr. McCain). Rather I mean Americans that are …
Ethnically diverse … Americans of latino, white, asian, black descent. Take more of the map in 2012 by expanding the coalition. America isn’t going to be only a “white” country.
Fiscally conservative … as measured by a balanced budget … NOT simply TAX CUTS as was the reflective refrain from the Republicans during this and every past election.
Moral & supportive of churchgoing citizens … demonstrate where the Democrats are good and decent and promote right vs wrong … fair vs unfair …. This doesn’t mean mindless charity.
Promote intelligence. Show tangible improvement in public school student performance and interest in education … math …. Science … the arts …
Focus on Congressional accountability. In your own way, embrace McCain’s anger, “I will make them famous, you will know their names!” Take this a step further though and create a routine way to convey to each congressional district whether their representative was part of the problem or part of the solution and throughout President Obama’s term, communicate this within their ENTIRE state. Bolster or kill that representative’s chances for Governor, Senator or other statewide advancement.
Do these things and America will work for years … The Obama Administration will have fixed America. He will be worthy of Mount Rushmore and the $500 bill which will be introduced into circulation.
That's because American citizens have become shallow. It was the "cool" thing to do to become a Democrat. It was "cool" to vote for the young, hip, charismatic guy. Everything in this country is now about aesthetics...its ridiculous. This time, America's shallowness is going to bite us in the arse! America didn't use to be this way
BTW, I've been a Democrat since 1999, and this is the first year that I could not bring myself to vote for the ticket. That man is completely unqualified!
Atty in FL – Two words: Sour grapes!
obama has noone to thank but ACORN.
TO; THE END OF AMERICA by OBAMA
I see you have taken your "bitter pill" again today! -
Dave and Reality...AU didn't measure the percent of registered voters, but the percentage of "those eligible to vote". That would be registered or otherwise...based on age and citizenship.
The point of such an analysis is to measure voter participation in this country. It is still very low approx. (61% of eligible voters) compared to other democratic countries, but was expected to be higher in this election. But AU correctly points out that the increase in Democratic-leaning voters was mostly offset by a reduction in Republican-leaning voters (meaning the former added new voters while the latter had old voters that didn't vote this time).
I can reason that many Republicans stayed home because they felt it was a lost cause. They shouldn't have, though. It would have been very close.
Non-voters have no rights to complain about the direction of their country. VOTE...WHENEVER YOU GET THE OPPORTUNITY!
well, that's a disappointment.
Pelosi will be running the show, San Francisco liberalism for the entire country. Its going to be a rocky time.
Not everybody who voted for McCain was stupid. Some of us just wanted someone with experience running this country. Now we'll see if Obama can really keep his campaign promises.
Yeah, increase in Dems, decrease in Repubs. No wonder it came out rather even.
I am certainly bitter over the election.
Many of you are correct. BO will be our president because of the media. BO's faults were ignored, Biden's faults were ignored, McCain's faults were highlighted and Palin's faults were the only thing about her covered. I'm not suggesting that the R ticket was a good one, only that it was doomed because of media bias, BO's brilliant promise to the lazy, and timing against the backdrop of neocons running our country for 6 of the last 8 years.
I hope that the R party will return to REAL conservatism. And before you libs trounce on my comments, do us all a favor and read the Constitution. Taxing for welfare is not mentioned. Taxes should be limited so as to only be used for what the Constitution allows for. Again, for those of you who can, our country would be better off if you would meditate on the brilliance on the Constitution instead of the brilliance, or lack thereof, of the Absurdity of False Hope.
I think there was a time when a man that had only been a state senator with no Washington experience was elected President.
I think that man was also from Illinois.
I think his name was Abraham Lincoln.
Hmmmmm.
But the world is completely different now than it was in Lincoln's time. Foreign policy is more prevelant, the economy is a bigger factor, heck, the country itself is even bigger. While Lincoln was a great leader in that world, the world we live in today doesn't allow for learning the Presidency on the job.
No LH, everyone who did vote for McCain, did so on a basis of some stupidity or racism. End of story. the man had zero plans for fixing anything. He only had plans for getting his foot in the door then sitting his million year old butt their till the country collapsed around him. People like you are the ones the younger generation of voters would like to never see at the polls again.
Adios and goodbye.
So much for Barack being able to get out the vote and inspire people to vote one way or the other. And once again you chuckle heads in the news media got it dead wrong again. What happened to the 50 million more people who were going to vote this election? What of all the new voters that got registered? America could barely get 6 million more people to vote this time over last time. I guess there were more fake registrations from ACORN then actual new voters.
I am the younger generation of voters – I'm only 32 with a law degree. Trust me, I knew exactly who I was voting for. As did my cousin & his family – the cousin who sepnt 18 mths away from his wife & child fighting in Iraq & fully believes that we need to be there. It's being very closed minded to say that if you didn't vote for Obama you're either stupid or racist – what about those who only voted FOR him b/c of his race?
LH, go to the white house site which lists the bios of all presidents. you'll be fascinated to see that the ones who consistently stick out as the best in history had little more "experience" than obama.
i waited 3 hours and 45 minutes to vote here in atlanta. in all my years, i have never seen such an amazing turnout here. people CARED. voting MATTERED. Obama '08.
I'm so sick of some of you people saying the media was bias against McCain/Palin. If anything the media was for McCain/Palin, just look at all the crap those two were doing out there on the trail, spreading hate, calling Obama anti-american, saying he doesn't look like you and I, code work for, he's not (white), saying he pales around with terrorist, who is the real Obama, he doesn't love america like you and I. Just look at the things their crowd was shouting, " kill'em, bomb his house, he's a terroist, calling reporters the (N)word, telling a black reporter, go sit down boy, but did the media say they were way out of line, NNNOO, they just kept reporting. Palin was vetting and look at all the crap she had in her closet, did they report that on the tv news, NNNNNNNOOOOOOO
LH,
IF your cousin believe we need to be in Iraq, he's a moron, sorry.
Dave in Atlanta- you're absolutely right! if more new people became registered and voted, the percentage WOULD stay the same, even though far more people voted in this election. thanks for the insight. to all doubters, i can say this: they're still counting votes in Georgia. Still! So many more people participated. The wording of this article is misleading.
Bill in Ct;
The only hate that I've seen in this campaign has been by people like you saying these kinds of things about McCain & Palin. Please read the research on news bias at Pew Research. From their study, MSNBC scored 73% of the news stories about McCain were negative, while only 14% of their Obama stories were negative. There is no excuse for this level of bias.
Here's an sample of racism: Just read and think: Obama had been campaigning for close to two years and the media and the right wing neo-cons dag into his life, from his pre-school days to Rev. Wright, to people who were at a party, when he was just starting out, called him every name under the sun, and all the way to the election which was Tuesday Nov. 4, they said we still don't know who Obama is, give me a break, what they really meant was he's the black guy and we don't trust him, ok , Now lets go to Palin: from Alaska, no foreign policy experience, no economic experience,never been out of the country, wasn't vetted by the McCain camp, only been on the seen for 8 weeks and you know what some of you said, " SHE'S GREAT " , know one knew her but she's just like one of us, simply put, SHE'S WHITE and it's alright
i am so ashamed that tens of millions of americans did not vote.. our soldiers are dying so that men and women in other countries can have the right to vote for their own leaders.. and millions just chose not too.... almost 80,000,000 people did not vote.. tsk tsk tsk. and too boot, here in florida, we had 13 candidates on the ballot AND if those were not good enough, you could even write in you choice.. people are apethetic and lazy...
everyone i work with voted.. at least i can take the fact that those in my immediate life, are politically aware.
yay!!! obama / biden
Ron in Ca) please I guess you didn't see anything wrong with the hate speeches and the fear mongers. Let me guess you're a Republican, That's right, I forgot you Rethugs never know your spreading hate b/c that's the way you bigots are, a bunch of HYPOCRITICS. Yes that pew report said that McCain/Palin received more negative reporting b/c they were the idiots out there at their rallies spreading hate like George Wallace back in the 60's. As a matter of fact (RON) it doesn't matter any more b/c those losers and your racist party, "THE NEO-CONS of the republican party lost and you want to know by who, AN ( COMMUNITY ORGANIZER ) LOL , just comes to show, that the real AMERICANs are sick of people like you and your fear mongers, hate spreading, racist group the NEO-CONS bye-bye LOSERS McCain/Palin LOL LOL LOL
Interesting article... we had over 75% turnout at my precinct in Prince William county. I wonder if the numbers have a direct relationship to the amount of campaigning that happened. Someone mentioned it was more like 60% four years ago...
Hey!
Bill in Ct.
The same can be said about OBama! No experience anywhere, plus he never managed a thing in his life!
Breaking news!! Correction: Obama is not an african american, he is half black, and half white So just as much of the time he is referred to as a black man he could easily and equally be referred to as a white man. Its just the facts people, sorry to burst your bubbles, but thems the facts, aight! Peace
Hey !
Bill in Ct.
The same can be said about Obama as far as experience. Never managed or ran anything. Never created new legislations, etc. He is, the most inexperience person to hold this office ever. That's a fact!
One more Point !
Bill in Ct.
The market is so shakey about this guy that it has been the biggest drop in the Dow ever since the day after a president elect.
Also, today is another crushing downward spiral of over 400 points lost. Yep, raise tax on big business and midium size business. That' will help kepp jobs & inspire investments!
from a voters perspective, with all of the negativity and divisiveness coming from the republican side.. (the tv ads were disgusting, no facts, just anti-speech) ... in this election .. you either voted FOR Obama or you voted AGAINST Obama.. McCain never gave us any information that we could use to make an accurate intelligent decision... i am glad to say , that i am on the right side of history...The Left!
let me guess, this is being moderated by a black person? The fact you wont post my comment proves my point, IGNORANCE is in your blood
To A Really Conservative Realist – I hope the R party will return to REAL conservatism too. That will help keep the the Democrats in power even longer.
I guess I missed the part of the constitution that says we can use tax money to build roads and help out hurricane victims.
Didn't Palin say God wiil hear our prayers and elect the right person to office. I guess God did because Obama won.
Why is the voter turnout for 2004 in American University's report so different from elsewhere? infoplease, wiki, and ucsb all cite closer to 55% for 2004. That's roughly a 8-9% increase, pretty significant.
I HATED the biased media coverage over this whole election cycle. It was left wing to the max. From day one when the new York times said McCain was having an affair with no proof at all to when madonna called him a Nazi!!! Any dirt on Obama was dug up by hillary's people.
Ok, so now that we have choosen between these two losers (Lets face it no one in congress should be asking for a promotion with their approval rating) can we as americans unite to find real leadership outside of the corrupt two party system. i suggest a new party of the people modeled after the ideals and policies of JFK & Reagan.
The Republicans threw the Election,figuring to let Obama be the fall guy for the coming Depression.Then they can rule for another 20 years.
As a religious minority (Scientologist) I am glad Obama was elected. Everyone at my church was too.