Turnout in the U.S. midterm elections reached its second-highest level, in terms of the number of voters, in more than 100 years. Democrats owe the scale of their victory and their “blue wave” to it, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Turnout was only slightly lower than in the 2018 midterms and gave Democrats unexpected wins in Republican-controlled states, the paper explained.
Across the United States, 49 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, a level nearly the highest since 1914, according to preliminary calculations by the University of Florida.
The three states with the highest turnout – Maine (65.7 percent), Minnesota (65.2) and Michigan (63.2) – held Senate elections in which the races were very tight. Democrats won them and also took the governors’ offices in those states.
In all the states where Senate seats were contested, 52 percent of voters went to the polls.
The paper cautioned that turnout was unusually high for a midterm election, but it is still 15.2 percent lower than in the 2024 presidential election. The race for the White House typically mobilizes voters more.
Election analyst and Democratic Party strategist Tom Bonier said Donald Trump has always had an unmatched ability to energize both his supporters and the opposition.
“What went differently this time (compared with 2018) is that he also scared off Republicans, so many of them stayed home,” Bonier added.
Daron Shaw, a Republican pollster and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, observed that “Trump has an incredible gift for mobilizing.” He added, however, that Trump also happens to be among those who are best at “demobilizing” his own electorate. (PAP)
