Pundits speculated whether the 2024 election would see a sharp fall-off in turnout in the post-COVID environment. Even though non-traditional balloting methods remained in place, would voters still take advantage of them? We now have the answer.
About 154 million people voted in 2024 (64.5% of the eligible population)—down from 2020, but not dramatically so. As the chart shows, 2024 turnout numbers were just 1.4 percentage points lower than in 2020 and more than 5 percentage points higher than in 2016. Turnout by state varied wildly—with Minnesota showing the highest level of participation and Oklahoma the lowest.
Political scientists will need to pore through the granular data to see which demographic groups showed up and which stayed home. That will tell a lot about why the election turned out the way it did. But one thing is for certain, as long as non-traditional voting methods remain popular, Americans are likely to continue to turn out to vote at high levels.