Democrats Like Early Voting More

While most voters will wait until Election Day to cast their ballot, half of Democrats say they’ll vote early this year.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 44% of Likely U.S. voters will vote early this year, while 53% plan to wait until Election Day. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Significantly more Democrats (50%) than Republicans (36%) plan to vote early this year. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters unaffiliated with either major party say they’ll vote early.

Thirty-seven states now allow in-person early voting with no absentee ballot, and 73% of voters say they live in states where early voting is available. However, 20% are not sure if early voting is available in their state.

A majority of voters expect Republicans to win majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate in next month’s midterm elections. Sixty-seven percent (67%) say it’s likely the GOP will win control of the House, including 38% who say a Republican majority is Very Likely in the House. Fifty-eight percent (58%) think the Republicans will likely win control of the Senate, including 24% who believe it’s Very Likely.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on October 18-19, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Those who plan to vote early are less likely to think Republicans will win House and Senate majorities, compared to those who expect to vote on Election Day. Among early voters, 30% think it’s Very Likely the GOP will win control of the House, compared to 45% of those who plan to vote on Election Day. Similarly, 20% of early voters believe Republicans are Very Likely to win control of the Senate, compared to 28% of Election Day voters.

Republican voters are much more confident of winning control of the House than they are of the GOP winning a Senate majority. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans think it’s Very Likely their party will capture the House majority, compared to 40% who believe it’s Very Likely the GOP will win control of the Senate. Only 19% of Democratic voters think Republicans are Very Likely to win the House and 15% of Democrats believe the GOP is Very Likely to win a majority in the Senate. Among unaffiliated voters, 30% think it’s Very Like that Republicans will win control of the House and 18% say the GOP is Very Likely to capture the Senate.

More whites (76%) than black voters (66%) or other minorities (68%) say early voting is available in their states. Majorities of both whites (54%) and black voters (56%) plan to vote on Election Day, as do 46% of other minorities.

There isn’t much of a “gender gap” on early voting. However, men (41%) are more likely than women voters (34%) to expect Republicans to win control of the House in the upcoming elections.

Voters 65 and older are somewhat more likely to say they’ll vote early this year, and much more likely to believe that Republicans will win control of the House in next month’s midterms.

President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters are more likely to prefer early voting. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 67% say they’ll vote early this year, while among those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance, only 33% will vote early.

With the midterm elections less than three weeks away, most voters are still worried about high gasoline prices and give Biden low marks for his energy policy.

A majority of voters don’t believe Biden should seek reelection in 2024, and are not confident in his ability to do the job now.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free) or follow us on Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.