The following is a listing of voter turnout in each United States presidential election going back to 1828.
| Election | Voting Age Population (VAP) (thousands) |
Turnout (thousands) |
% Turnout of VAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1789 | |||
| 1792 | |||
| 1796 | |||
| 1800 | |||
| 1804 | |||
| 1808 | |||
| 1812 | |||
| 1816 | |||
| 1820 | |||
| 1824 | |||
| 1828 | 57.6% | ||
| 1832 | 55.4% | ||
| 1836 | 57.8% | ||
| 1840 | 80.2% | ||
| 1844 | 78.9% | ||
| 1848 | 72.7% | ||
| 1852 | 69.6% | ||
| 1856 | 78.9% | ||
| 1860 | 81.2% | ||
| 1864 | 73.8% | ||
| 1868 | 78.1% | ||
| 1872 | 71.3% | ||
| 1876 | 81.8% | ||
| 1880 | 79.4% | ||
| 1884 | 77.5% | ||
| 1888 | 79.3% | ||
| 1892 | 74.7% | ||
| 1896 | 79.3% | ||
| 1900 | 73.2% | ||
| 1904 | 65.2% | ||
| 1908 | 65.4% | ||
| 1912 | 58.8% | ||
| 1916 | 61.6% | ||
| 1920 | 49.2% | ||
| 1924 | 48.9% | ||
| 1928 | 56.9% | ||
| 1932 | 75,768 | 39,817 | 52.6% |
| 1936 | 80,174 | 45,647 | 56.9% |
| 1940 | 84,728 | 49,815 | 58.8% |
| 1944 | 85,654 | 48,026 | 56.1% |
| 1948 | 95,573 | 48,834 | 51.1% |
| 1952 | 99,929 | 61,552 | 61.6% |
| 1956 | 104,515 | 62,027 | 59.3% |
| 1960 | 109,672 | 68,836 | 62.8% |
| 1964 | 114,090 | 70,098 | 61.4% |
| 1968 | 120,285 | 73,027 | 60.7% |
| 1972 | 140,777 | 77,625 | 55.1% |
| 1976 | 152,308 | 81,603 | 53.6% |
| 1980 | 163,945 | 86,497 | 52.8% |
| 1984 | 173,995 | 92,655 | 53.3% |
| 1988 | 181,956 | 91,587 | 50.3% |
| 1992 | 189,493 | 104,600 | 55.2% |
| 1996 | 196,789 | 96,390 | 49.0% |
| 2000 | 209,787 | 105,594 | 50.3% |
| 2004 | 219,553 | 122,349 | 55.7% |
| 2008 | 229,945 | 131,407 | 57.1% |
| 2012 | 211,731 | 121,745 | 57.5% |
Note: While final exact figures for 2012 are yet to be calculated, the Bipartisan Research Center has stated that turnout for 2012 was 57.5 percent of the eligible voters, which they claim was a decline from 2008. They estimate that as a percent of eligible voters, turn out was: 2000, 54.2%; in 2004 60.4%; 2008 62.3%; and 2012 57.5%. These were the same figures as given by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
Famous quotes containing the words united, states, presidential and/or elections:
“Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“... there is a place in the United States for the Negro. They are real American citizens, and at home. They have fought and bled and died, like men, to make this country what it is. And if they have got to suffer and die, and be lynched, and tortured, and burned at the stake, I say they are at home.”
—Amanda Berry Smith (1837–1915)
“Under a Presidential government, a nation has, except at the electing moment, no influence; it has not the ballot-box before it; its virtue is gone, and it must wait till its instant of despotism again returns.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)