Early data suggests turnout dropped more than 4% from 2020
It might still be the second-highest rate in over 50 years.
Despite a lot of talk on both sides about the magnitude of this election, it appears that some Americans didn’t feel quite as compelled to get out and vote on Tuesday… at least compared to the 2020 race between Trump and Biden.
According to preliminary estimates from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, based on projections from state reports on election night, the turnout rate among eligible voters in the US looks to have dropped from the century's high point of 66.4% in 2020 to 62.2% this year, at the time of writing. It’s important to note that votes are still being counted across the country, but if that figure holds true, it would still be the second-highest turnout rate in over 50 years, according to Election Lab data.
Even after America’s turnout upturn in recent elections, it still lags behind other nations around the world: according to a study from Pew Research in 2022, the US’s voting-age population turnout ranked 31st out of the 50 countries that were analyzed.
