Turnout Way Down Across Country

A new report finds that turnout in the 25 states that have held statewide primaries so far has declined from 18.3% in 2010 to 14.8% this year.

First Read: “What’s more, the report says that turnout in 15 of these 25 states has reached historic lows, and only three of 25 (Nebraska, North Carolina, and West Virginia) had higher turnout in 2014 than four years ago. So take President Obama’s low job-approval ratings, add them with Congress’ lower numbers plus a sense that the political process is broken, and you get low turnout — record lows in some cases. Now we don’t know what turnout will be for the general election, but if these numbers are any guide, then you can probably bet some money that the number of Americans voting is going to be down in November. And that could produce some striking consequences.”