Among GOP House incumbents who lost their re-election campaigns, 23 of 30 were more moderate than the median Republican in the chamber.
Partisan loyalty and dislike of the opposing party and its candidates were major factors for voters’ choices in this month’s midterms.
The public is generally positive about the outcome of last week’s midterm elections. Yet most Americans think that neither Democratic congressional leaders nor Donald Trump will be successful in getting their policies passed into law during the next two years.
Many Americans support the idea of several election policies, including same-day and automatic voter registration. This election, voters in many states weighed in on specific ballot measures.
Latinos made up an estimated 11% of all voters nationwide on Election Day, nearly matching their share of the U.S. eligible voter population.
There were wide differences in voting preferences between men and women, whites and nonwhites, as well as people with more and less educational attainment.
White evangelical or born-again Christians backed GOP candidates for the House at about the same rate in 2014. Religious "nones" and Jewish voters again largely backed Democratic candidates.
Many of the millions of Americans voting in Tuesday's midterm elections will have to do so while working around the demands of their jobs – hitting their polling places before work, taking an extra-long lunch break or going afterward and hoping to make it before the polls close. As they stand in line, many of them may wonder why it is that the United States votes on a Tuesday, of all days.
Voters are more enthusiastic about voting than in any midterm election in over 20 years of Pew Research Center polling. Still, millions of Americans will not exercise their right to vote on Tuesday.
With a week to go before Election Day, Americans are confident their local election authorities are up to the essential tasks of making sure that elections are run smoothly and that votes are counted accurately.
