Voter Demography

Pew Research Year in Review

Take a look at Pew Research Center’s top findings of the year that told us a bigger story about the trends shaping our world.

Young Voters Supported Obama Less, But May Have Mattered More

In winning reelection, Barack Obama won 60% of the vote among those younger than 30. That was down somewhat from 2008, when Obama won nearly two-thirds (66%) of the votes of young people. However, Obama’s youth support may have been an even more important factor in his victory this year than it was in 2008. [...]

Lessons from the 2012 Election

By Andrew Kohut, Pew Research Center President November 14, 2012 Postelection talk of “lessons learned” is ­often exaggerated and misleading, and so it is in 2012. A week after President Obama won re-election, two themes are dominant. First, that Mr. Obama kept his job because key elements of his base—notably young people, African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans—turned [...]

Changing Face of America Helps Assure Obama Victory

Barack Obama retained enough support from key elements of his base to win reelection, even as he lost ground nationally since 2008. In particular, Obama maintained wide advantages among young people, women, minorities, and both the less affluent and the well-educated. Overall, Obama benefited from relatively strong turnout – both nationally and in key battleground [...]

Nonvoters: Who They Are, What They Think

In the final days before Tuesday’s election, most of the focus will be on those likely to cast votes. But a sizable minority of adults choose not to vote or are unable to vote. By their absence, they also will affect the outcome. Nonvoters are numerous; in 2008, they constituted about 43% of the [...]

Youth Engagement Falls; Registration Also Declines

Young voters are significantly less engaged in this year’s election than at a comparable point in 2008 and now lag far behind older voters in interest in the campaign and intention to vote. The share of voters younger than 30 who are following campaign news very closely is roughly half what it was at this [...]

The Gender Gap: Three Decades Old, as Wide as Ever

The gender gap in presidential politics is not new. Democratic candidates have gotten more support from women than men for more than 30 years. Even so, Barack Obama’s advantages among women voters over his GOP rivals are striking. In the Pew Research Center’s most recent national survey, conducted March 7-11, Obama led Mitt Romney by [...]

The Generation Gap and the 2012 Election

In the last four national elections, generational differences have mattered more than they have in decades. According to the exit polls, younger people have voted substantially more Democratic than other age groups in each election since 2004, while older voters have cast more ballots for Republican candidates in each election since 2006. The latest [...]

Lagging Youth Enthusiasm Could Hurt Democrats in 2010

Republicans Faring Better with Men, Whites, Independents and Seniors

The Republican Party’s prospects for the midterm elections look much better than they did four years ago at this time, while the Democrats’ look much worse. Voter preferences for the upcoming congressional elections remain closely divided (45% support the Democratic candidate or lean Democratic, while 44% favor the Republican or lean Republican). In polling [...]

Seniors are Strongest Advocates for Change in 2010

Post-Election Perspectives

Young Voters in the 2008 Election

Should Women Worry Obama?

Young Voters in 2008 Presidential Primaries

A great deal of attention on Super Tuesday was focused on young voters, especially in the Democratic contests. Pew polling over the past few years has shown that young voters are trending Democratic and constitute an important constituency for the party. Currently, a clear majority of registered voters ages 18-29 say they are Democrats or [...]

Mind the Gender Gap

A lot of attention has been paid to the women’s vote in the first two Democratic nominating contests. In the Iowa caucuses, Barack Obama won a narrow victory over Hillary Clinton among female voters. But in New Hampshire women rallied to the former first lady giving her a huge 46 percent to 34 percent margin, [...]

Both Sides Reject Compromise in Iraq Funding Fight

Summary of Findings With battle lines drawn over legislation funding the Iraq war, the public is showing little appetite for compromise. Overall, a solid majority of Americans (59%) continue to say they want their representative to support a bill calling for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by August 2008, while just a third want [...]

Election ’06: Big Changes in Some Key Groups

Post-mortems on the election have rightly focused on a few big themes: the impact of the war, opinions about President Bush, and the strong Democratic performance among moderates and independents. But the shifting allegiance of some other important voter groups has gotten relatively less attention. One of the biggest stories is about young people. Another [...]

Cell-Only Voters Not Very Different

Cell-Only Voters Not Very Different: Fewer Registered, More First-time Voters

Candidates Battle Over First-Time Voters, Mothers

A Closer Look at Key Groups

Young People More Engaged, More Uncertain

Debates More Important to Young Voters

Bush Holds Modest Advantage Among Veterans

Despite Sen. John Kerry’s military background and his campaign’s concerted efforts to court veterans, he runs no better among this group than Al Gore did four years ago. Based on surveys conducted March, May, June and July, men who have served in the armed forces favor Bush over Kerry by a 49% to 40% margin. [...]

Republicans

Analysis Breakdowns An analysis of recent Pew Research Center surveys Republicans… Who They Are Despite its resurgence over the past 20 years, the Republican Party has never been numerically superior to the Democratic Party. For most of the 1990′s, the two have been essentially equal in this respect. In our most recent surveys, the Center [...]