Americans are giving less thought to this year's midterms and are less enthusiastic about voting than they were in the last such elections four years ago, according to a Gallup survey released on Tuesday.
In the poll, 49% of Americans say they have given "quite a lot" of thought to the congressional elections, down from 54% in 2018, which was a historic high turnout for a midterm.
Gallup notes, however, that the percentage showing "quite a lot" of thought is average for most midterm elections, which has been 48% since 1994.
In addition, the latest poll shows that 2% have given the midterms "some" thought, while 44% have given the elections "only a little."
Other results from the survey include:
- By party affiliation, 57% of both Republicans and Democrats surveyed are giving the elections this year "quite a lot" of thought. As is typical, far fewer independents, in this survey 37%, say the same.
- Gallup research has shown that the amount of thought given to an election is a key predictor of turnout, with turnout being higher when more people indicate they are giving a significant level of thought to an election.
- In the poll, 46% of Americans are enthusiastic about the midterms, down 18 points from 2018, with 42% saying they are less enthusiastic about the election this time around.
- In a measure of enthusiasm, or how well each party thinks they will do in the elections, 57% of Democrats are enthused, compared to 49% of Republicans.
- Meanwhile, 35% of independents report more enthusiasm this year. Although that is 16 points lower than four years ago, it is essentially about the average with the 1994-2014 readings for the group.
The survey was conducted from Oct. 3-20 among 1,009 adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.