What Drives Voters to Turn Out

Turnout rises when people believe the stakes are high and the outcome close. Competitive races, mobilization by parties and campaigns, hot ballot issues, and anger all push participation.

US presidential turnout hit 66.6 percent in 2020, the highest since 1900, with mail voting easing access. Compulsory voting lifts Australia above 90 percent, while registration burdens suppress US participation relative to peer democracies.

Education and age predict voting better than almost anything else. Expansion moments, 1840 mass parties, 1870 and 1965 Black enfranchisement, 1920 women, and 1971 eighteen year olds each remade the electorate..