Voter Participation

Nearly 107.7 million valid votes were cast in the 2022 House elections, representing about 45.1% of the estimated voting-eligible population.

Most U.S. adults say President Joe Biden (65%) and Republican leaders in Congress (61%) will be unsuccessful getting their agendas enacted in the next two years; only about a third say the president and GOP leaders will be successful. Republicans are less confident than Democrats in midterm vote counts – but more confident than they were after the 2020 election.

More Americans say it’s very important to vote in elections to be a good member of society than say the same about any other activity in the survey.

When comparing turnout among the voting-age population in recent national elections in 50 countries, the U.S. ranks 31st.

There has been a sharp decline in the share of Republican voters who are “very confident” that votes cast at polling places will be counted accurately.

As 2021 draws to a close, here are some of Pew Research Center’s most striking research findings from the past year.

An 85% majority of Democrats say everything possible should be done to make voting easy; 28% of Republicans say this.

Americans voted in record numbers in last year’s presidential election, casting nearly 158.4 million ballots.

53% of U.S. adults who voted in the general election say they engaged in at least 1 of 6 political activities over the past six months.

Votes cast on Election Day have grown steadily less significant over the past several election cycles as a share of total votes cast.