• @Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    16 hours ago

    That Democrats had record turnout

    According to Ballotpedia, in 2024 ~63.9% of the eligible US voting population (older than 18, US citizen, resident of voting jurisdiction) turned out to vote (registered & casted a ballot) or ~155 mn people. This means ~36.1% didn’t turn out, or ~88 mn people out of the ~243 mn total eligible population. In 2020, the turnout rate was ~66.6% or ~158 mn, meaning ~33.4% or ~79 mn didn’t vote out of the ~238 mn total eligible population.

    According again to Ballotpedia, ~77 mn voted R in 2024 (~49.8% of the voting population or ~31.8% of the total eligible population), ~75 mn voted D (~48.3% of the voting population or ~30.8% of the total eligible population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (~1.9% of the voting population or ~1.2% of the total eligible population).

    In 2020, ~81 mn voted D (~51.3% of the voting population or ~34.2% of the total population), ~74 mn voted R (~46.9% of the voting population or ~31.2% of the total eligible population), and ~3 mn voted 3rd party (~1.8% of the voting population or ~1.2% of the total eligible population).

    Democrats lost ~6 mn voters from 2020 to 2024 after looking at the above three sources, despite the voting population decreasing by ~3 mn and the eligible population increasing by ~5 mn. This implies that they did not have record turnout if you compare to 2020, also implying 2020 was more of a “record” turnout compared to 2024.

    & record voter registration

    Regarding voting registration, Ballotpedia haven’t posted data from 2024 or 2020, instead sharing 2022 information (which is biased since most people don’t vote in off-General Election years). The US Census Bureau have gathered this information however:

    According to the US Census Bureau, in 2024 the total eligible voting population (older than 18, US citizen, assumed resident of voting jurisdiction) was ~236 mn, the total registered population was ~174 mn (~73.6% of total eligible population), and the total voting population was ~154 mn (~65.3% of the total eligible population). Comparing registered to voting populations, ~154 mn voted out of ~174 mn registered (~88.8%), while ~20 mn did not vote (~11.2%).

    In 2020, the US Census Bureau reports that the total eligible voting population was ~232 mn, the total registered population was ~168 mn (~72.7% of the total eligible population), and the total voting population was ~155 mn (~66.8% of the total eligible population). Comparing registered to voting populations, ~155 mn voted out of ~168 mn registered (~91.9%), while ~14 mn did not vote (~8.1%).

    What the above 2 sources show is that more people were eligible and registered to vote in 2024 compared to 2020, but less people actually voted in that same time frame, both in absolute (~154 vs ~155 mn) and relative (~88.8% vs ~91.9%) terms. This could imply that Democrats didn’t receive “record” registration, but the US Census Bureau doesn’t gather party affiliation in their registration data.

    Ballotpedia does collect this, and says that only 30 states allowed voting registrants to list their party affiliation on their registration AND made this information public. The other 20 states and DC might have allowed this information to be collected, but didn’t make such data public, or didn’t collect this information to begin with.

    The numbers Ballotpedia report are that in March 2024, ~118 mn people registered in 30 states, ~45 mn registered D (~38.3%), ~36 mn registered R (~30.3%), and ~37 mn registered 3rd party (~31.4%). Ballotpedia doesn’t have registration data for 2020 (nor for 2019 or 2018), but does have 2021. For June of that year, ~125 mn people registered in 31 states, ~49 mn registered D (~39.6%), ~36 mn registered R (~29.2%), and ~39 mn registered 3rd party (~31.2%).

    This data is likely biased because it was collected in March of 2024 and June of 2021, times of the year and of election cycles where people aren’t as engaged in politics as around times of the year/election cycles closer to General Elections. It does indicate that Democrats received above average registration numbers, but that the registration numbers were more “record” in 2020 than in 2024. We don’t have data for every state though, so really this finding is inconclusive.

    20 million less Democrats voted

    Like I said above, ~6 mn less Democrats voted in 2024 over 2020, not 20 mn.

    Where is the evidence for the “record turnout”? Where is the evidence for the “record voter registration”? Where is the evidence of the “20 million more Democrats”?

    From what evidence I can find, Democrats had lower turnout, lower registrations, and less votes in 2024 than 2020.

    The lack of analysis of voting data in this post leads me to believe that the other information and claims are suspect. Seems more like a narrative is being pushed than fact.