Voter enthusiasm hits highest point this century, poll finds. Who is most excited?

Voter enthusiasm about the presidential election is at its highest point this century — largely due to a surge in excitement among Democrats, according to a new poll.

In the latest Gallup poll, 69% of respondents said they are “more enthusiastic than usual” to vote in the November election.

Since Gallup began measuring voter enthusiasm in 2000, it has never reached this high, though it came close several times. Enthusiasm previously peaked at 67% in August 2004, October 2008 and September 2020.

The poll, released Aug. 29, was conducted Aug. 1-20, sampled 1,015 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of four percentage points.

Record-high enthusiasm

The record-high excitement marks a dramatic shift from a March Gallup poll, in which 54% of respondents said they were more enthusiastic than usual to vote.

The 15-point upswing was largely caused by Democrats, who were reinvigorated following Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the race in July following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal.

In the March poll, 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents signaled they were more enthusiastic. In the latest poll, 78% said they were more enthusiastic, marking a 23-point increase.

The current level of Democratic excitement is one point lower than the record-high 79% reached in February 2008 — when former President Barack Obama was campaigning for the party’s nomination.

Excitement among Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents, on the other hand, crept up by five points, from 59% in March to 64% in August.

This is six points shy of the record 70% enthusiasm reached in August 2020, when former President Donald Trump was campaigning for a second term. Similar levels of enthusiasm among Republican and Republican-leaning respondents were measured in the lead-up to the 2012 and 2004 elections.

Other findings

Another record was also broken in the latest poll.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they have given “quite a lot” of thought to the upcoming election, marking the highest share measured in August since 2000.

At the same point in 2020, 71% of respondents said they were thinking about the election quite a lot, marking an eight-point difference.

In the latest poll, Republicans slightly outpaced Democrats in terms of thought given to the race.

Eighty-eight percent of Republicans said they were giving quite a lot of thought to the election, compared to 86% of Democrats. Far fewer independents, 68%, said they were thinking about the race a lot.

The poll also found that the majority of respondents had made up their minds about who they are going to vote for in November.

Among all respondents, 79% said they had settled on a candidate. And among registered voters, 83% had done the same. In contrast, 19% of all respondents and 16% of registered voters said they are still mulling their options.

The vast majority of Democratic and Republican respondents — 93% and 86%, respectively — said they’ve made up their minds. Meanwhile, only about 60% of independents have done the same.

Further, the poll found that the majority of respondents were generally satisfied with the campaign process.

Seventy-nine percent said they believe the campaign cycle has “identified at least one good candidate,” and 71% said the campaign has promoted discussions about key issues.

This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Voter enthusiasm hits highest point this century, poll finds. Who is most excited?."