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Three Things That Usually Happen in the Midterms

March 12, 2025 · 9:00 am ET · Leave a Comment

Larry Sabato’s Cyrstal Ball notes there are at least three fairly consistent things that we see in midterms compared to presidential elections:

  • The turnout of eligible voters in midterms is consistently lower than the turnout in the most recent presidential election.
  • Midterm electorates are typically older, whiter, and more educated than presidential electorates.
  • The non-presidential party usually wins a higher share of the two-party House vote in the midterm than that party did in the preceding presidential election.

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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