2014 Census Data: The Registration and Voting Gap

July 28, 2015

Need more evidence for the need to engage the Rising American Electorate in midterm elections? Look no further than the 2014 U.S. Census data, which was released earlier this month. The numbers from the Census Bureau reinforce what other researchers found in the wake of the 2014 midterm elections—that while the Rising American Electorate had a sizeable majority of voting-eligible citizens, they cast a minority of the votes.

The registration and voting rates for married and unmarried women tell the same story as the RAE as a whole:

Among both unmarried women and the larger Rising American Electorate, the number of voters registered decreased substantially between 2012 and 2014. Those results are true despite increasing populations—perhaps in part because members of the Rising American Electorate tend to relocate more often than the general public as a whole, meaning they have to re-register at their new addresses.

That’s why the Voter Participation Center works year-round to register the Rising American Electorate—particularly focusing on people who are moving, young people approaching their 18th birthday, and other voting-eligible but unregistered Americans. Learn more about the work we’re doing.

If you agree with us that our mission to register, activate, and protect the voting rights for the Rising American Electorate is crucial in 2016 and beyond, we hope you’ll consider donating to help us fulfill that mission.

What We're Reading

U.S. Census: Unmarried and Single Americans Week

To commemorate Unmarried and Single Americans Week (September 17-23), the U.S. Census has produced a “Facts for Features” profile (PDF) of 2016 census data about unmarried Americans. Here are some of the highlights:

There are 110.6 unmarried people 18 or older in America, making up 45.2% of the U.S. adult population.
35.4 million Americans lived alone in 2016, representing 28.1% of all US households — up from 17.1% in 1970.
Despite unmarried people being 45.2% of the U.S. adult population, only 39.6% of voters in the 2016 presidential election were unmarried.

Read the rest of the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Facts for Features” profile (PDF) on unmarried Americans.

Millennials to pass baby boomers as largest voter-eligible age group, and what it means

For the first time, millennials next year will pass baby boomers as the largest generation of Americans eligible to vote.

By Ronald Brownstein, CNN Senior Political Analyst

July 25, 2017

(CNN)In 2018, the American electorate will cross a historic threshold that could reshape the political balance of power-or leave Democrats fuming in frustration at continued Republican dominance of Washington.

For the first time, millennials next year will pass baby boomers as the largest generation of Americans eligible to vote, according to the well-respected demographic forecasts from the States of Change project at the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group. That transition will end a remarkable four decades of dominance for the baby boomers, who have been the largest generation of eligible voters since 1978, when they surpassed what’s been popularly referred to as the Greatest Generation (or G.I. Generation) raised during the Depression. Read more here.

How Votes Have Shifted: Changes in Partisan Performance 2000-2016

Demographic change is slowly, but inevitably, moving Western states to the left.

By Reid Wilson

The 11th story in The Hill’s Changing America series, in which they investigate the demographic and economic trends shaping the nation’s politics. Nevada’s booming growth underscores the two trends working most in Democrats’ favor: the rising power of cities that are acting more reliably liberal, and the expanding influence of Hispanic-Americans who are becoming the nation’s largest minority community. Read more here.

2014 Census Data: The Registration and Voting Gap

Share this Post

Related Items