The 2024 presidential election concluded with electors casting their votes in state capitals, affirming Donald Trump as the forty-seventh President of the United States. With the electoral process finalized and certification anticipated without disruption, attention turns to understanding the specifics of this significant election, particularly concerning voter participation. A key question on many minds is: How Many People Voted In The 2024 Presidential Election? The answer reveals a compelling narrative of historic engagement and shifts in the American electorate.
Record-Breaking Turnout: The Big Picture
The 2024 election witnessed a remarkable surge in voter participation, with over 156.3 million Americans casting their ballots. To be precise, the total reached 156,302,318 votes, marking the second-highest voter turnout in U.S. history in absolute numbers. This figure underscores the intense interest and engagement in the political process during this election cycle. While falling slightly short of the unprecedented turnout in 2020, which saw record numbers amidst unique pandemic circumstances, the 2024 election still demonstrated robust democratic participation. In relative terms, the national voter turnout rate stood at 63.9 percent of eligible voters. Although this percentage is below the 66.6 percent recorded in 2020—the highest rate since 1900—it remains notably high by modern standards, exceeding turnout rates of most recent presidential elections and emphasizing continued civic engagement.
Popular Vote Breakdown: Trump vs. Harris
Delving into the popular vote, Donald Trump garnered 77,284,118 votes, representing 49.8 percent of the total votes cast for president. This impressive figure not only secured his victory but also ranks as the second-highest popular vote total received by any presidential candidate in U.S. history. Only Joe Biden’s historic 81.2 million votes in 2020 surpasses this number. Trump’s 2024 performance reflects a significant increase from his previous campaigns, exceeding his 2020 vote count by over 3 million and his 2016 count by over 14 million. This cumulative popular vote record now places him ahead of Barack Obama for the most votes received by a presidential candidate across multiple elections.
Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, received 74,999,166 votes, or 48.3 percent of the popular vote. While a substantial number, it represents approximately 6.3 million fewer votes than Joe Biden secured in 2020. However, Harris’s vote total still surpasses Trump’s 2020 popular vote count by over 774,000, highlighting the consistently high level of voter engagement across both major parties.
Electoral College Outcome: As Expected, But Not a Landslide
The Electoral College vote in 2024 proceeded largely as anticipated, with Donald Trump securing 312 electoral votes and Kamala Harris receiving 226. Notably, unlike the 2016 election, the 2024 Electoral College saw no “faithless electors,” ensuring all electors voted in accordance with their pledged candidate. While Trump’s electoral vote victory was decisive, it’s crucial to contextualize it as not a landslide victory. His 312 electoral votes, while significant, are only slightly more than Joe Biden’s 306 in 2020, and considerably fewer than landslide victories of past presidents like Barack Obama, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. Furthermore, in terms of the popular vote, more Americans voted for someone other than Trump than voted for him in 2024, and his margin of victory over Harris was a relatively narrow 1.5 percentage points. This places the 2024 election among the closer presidential contests in modern U.S. history.
State-by-State Turnout: Wisconsin Leads, Hawaii Lags
Examining voter turnout at the state level reveals interesting variations. Wisconsin emerged as the state with the highest voter turnout in 2024, with an impressive 76.93 percent of eligible voters participating. Significantly, five of the six key battleground states that flipped from Biden to Trump—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—all recorded voter turnout exceeding the national average. Arizona was the exception, with 63.6 percent turnout, just slightly below the national figure. Conversely, Hawaii registered the lowest voter turnout in the nation, with only 50 percent of eligible Hawaiians casting their ballots. These state-level differences underscore the diverse factors influencing voter participation across the country, from local election dynamics to varying levels of political engagement.
The Impact of Early and Mail-In Voting
The trend of early and mail-in voting continued to be a prominent feature of the 2024 election. A substantial 88,380,679 votes were cast before Election Day through these methods. Of these early votes, 52 percent were cast in person, while 48 percent were submitted via mail-in ballots. Data on party affiliation for early voting reveals that 41 percent of early and mail-in ballots were cast by registered Democrats, 38 percent by registered Republicans, and 21 percent by voters registered with other parties or no party affiliation. This data suggests that early and mail-in voting remains a popular and utilized option across the political spectrum, though with a slight傾斜 towards Democratic voters based on available data.
Congressional Composition: Republicans in Control
Beyond the presidential race, the 2024 election also determined the composition of the U.S. Congress. The results indicate that Republicans will control both the House and Senate in the upcoming Congress. However, their majorities in both chambers are relatively slim, particularly in the House. In the House of Representatives, Republicans secured 220 seats compared to 215 for the Democrats. This narrow majority is even smaller than the Republican majority won in the 2022 midterm elections and faces potential further reduction due to upcoming resignations and special elections. In the Senate, Republicans will hold 53 seats, a net gain of four seats. While this marks a return to Republican control of the Senate after losing it in 2020, the 53 seats remain short of the 60 needed for a filibuster-proof majority, indicating potential for continued gridlock and bipartisan negotiation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the 2024 presidential election witnessed a significant turnout of over 156 million voters, the second-highest in U.S. history. While Donald Trump secured victory through the Electoral College and a substantial popular vote, the election was not a landslide, with a relatively narrow margin of popular vote victory and continued close partisan division. State-level turnout varied considerably, with Wisconsin leading the nation and early and mail-in voting remaining a popular method of participation. The Republican party gained control of both houses of Congress, albeit with slim majorities. Understanding how many people voted in the 2024 presidential election and the broader context of voter turnout, popular vote distribution, and congressional outcomes provides critical insights into the dynamics of American democracy and the political landscape moving forward.
