Plus, before 2020, U.S. trailed most developed countries in voter turnout
November 7, 2020 The latest findings from Pew Research Center · Subscribe ↗
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If one early takeaway from the election is historic voter participation, another may be the continuing political polarization that has come to define the United States. The elected officials who take the oath of office in Washington in January will be representing two broad coalitions of voters who are deeply distrustful of one another and who fundamentally disagree over policies, plans and even the very problems that face the country today. Even before the historic challenges of 2020, Americans saw the building blocks of their society and political culture in deep distress. Yet amid the bleak assessments, there is some hope. Most Americans say public confidence in the federal government, the news media and their fellow citizens can be improved, with many urging changes in interpersonal behavior. Read more from Pew Research Center in RealClearPolitics. In 1996, 89.5% of voters reported voting in person on Election Day. As recently as 2006, that share was 80.4%. But then the in-person Election Day portion of the vote began to skid, falling below 60% in each election cycle since 2014. The decline likely continued this year amid widespread early and absentee voting due to the coronavirus pandemic. How does voter turnout in the United States compare with turnout in other countries? That depends very much on which country you’re looking at and which measuring stick you use. Many Americans are concerned about the media reporting inaccurate or incomplete information. And that includes information reported by their own most-used news sources. From our research85% The share of Americans who say Donald Trump and Joe Biden supporters cannot agree on basic facts about important issues facing the country. | |
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