{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T17:55:00Z","timestamp":1792000500891,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791936000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000935","name":"Russell Sage Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Visiting Scholar"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Visiting Scholar"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000935","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Voters in American congressional midterm elections are widely viewed as demographically less representative than those in presidential elections \u2013 older, whiter, wealthier, and more educated. Using Current Population Survey data from 1994 through 2024 as well as voter-file data, we test this conventional wisdom and show that it is partly right but too broad. The key difference between midterm and presidential electorates is age: midterms sharply underrepresent young citizens and overrepresent older citizens compared to presidential elections, while differences between the elections by race, income, and education are much smaller. Midterm voters are, above all, older voters.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0360051","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T17:31:21Z","timestamp":1791999081000},"page":"e0360051","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Who votes when? Midterm and presidential voters differ primarily by age"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Brian T.","family":"Hamel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of North Texas","place":["Denton, Texas, United States of America"],"department":["Department of Political Science"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jan E.","family":"Leighley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"American University","place":["Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America"],"department":["Department of Government"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6918-9428","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jonathan","family":"Nagler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"New York University","place":["New York, New York, United States of America"],"department":["Wilf Family Department of Politics"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0360051.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.23943\/princeton\/9780691159348.001.0001","volume-title":"Who votes now? Demographics, issues, inequality, and turnout in the United States.","author":"JE Leighley","year":"2013"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref002","volume-title":"Participation in America: Political democracy and social equality","author":"S Verba","year":"1972"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1206","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2508.2005.00357.x","article-title":"Are voters better represented?","volume":"67","author":"JD Griffin","year":"2005","journal-title":"J Polit"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.2307\/2111481","article-title":"The policy consequences of class bias in state electorates","volume":"36","author":"KQ Hill","year":"1992","journal-title":"Am J Polit Sci"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1111\/1540-5907.00008","article-title":"Voting\u2019s rewards: Voter turnout, attentive publics, and congressional allocation of federal money","volume":"47","author":"PS Martin","year":"2003","journal-title":"Am J Polit Sci"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctv1pnc1k7","volume-title":"Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics","author":"S Verba","year":"1995"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"374","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003055421000915","article-title":"Who votes: City election timing and voter composition","volume":"116","author":"ZL Hajnal","year":"2022","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref008","first-page":"1","article-title":"Unequal participation: Democracy\u2019s unresolved dilemma","volume":"91","author":"A Lijphart","year":"1997","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref009","volume-title":"Mobilization, participation, and democracy in America","author":"SJ Rosenstone","year":"1993"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref010","volume-title":"Political behavior: Studies in election statistics","author":"H Tingsten","year":"1937"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref011","unstructured":"McDonald MP. National turnout rates graph. UF Election Lab. Accessed 2026 August 24. https:\/\/election.lab.ufl.edu\/national-turnout-rates-graph\/"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref012","unstructured":"Yglesias M. The 2018 electorate was older, whiter, and better educated than in 2016. Vox, Nov. 12, 2018. Accessed 2026 August 24. https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2018\/11\/12\/18083014\/2018-election-results-turnout"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref013","article-title":"The great midterm divide","author":"R Brownstein","year":"2014","journal-title":"The Atlantic"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref014","article-title":"Democrats\u2019 midterm demographic problem","author":"D Montanaro","year":"2014","journal-title":"PBS NewsHour"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref015","article-title":"Commentary: \u201cBlue wave\u201d is far from certain","author":"L Tran","year":"2018","journal-title":"CBS News"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref016","article-title":"GOP chief predicts Republican \u201ctsunami\u201d in 2014, Dems beg to differ","author":"J Zeleny","year":"2014","journal-title":"ABC News"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref017","article-title":"This is how big a drag President Obama is on Senate Democrats","author":"C Cillizza","year":"2014","journal-title":"The Washington Post"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0360051.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.2202\/1540-8884.1406","article-title":"Voter turnout in the 2010 midterm election","volume":"8","author":"MP McDonald","year":"2011","journal-title":"The Forum"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1044","DOI":"10.1111\/ajps.12210","article-title":"Is voting habit forming? New evidence from experiments and regression discontinuities","volume":"60","author":"A Coppock","year":"2016","journal-title":"Am J Polit Sci"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0360051.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003055402004227","article-title":"Becoming a habitual voter: Inertia, resources, and growth in young adulthood","volume":"96","author":"E Plutzer","year":"2002","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0360051.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0268134","article-title":"400 million voting records show profound racial and geographic disparities in voter turnout in the United States","volume":"17","author":"M Barber","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLOS One"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1850","DOI":"10.1086\/717260","article-title":"The Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement overstates minority turnout","volume":"84","author":"S Ansolabehere","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Polit"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"437","DOI":"10.1093\/pan\/mps023","article-title":"Validation: What big data reveal about survey misreporting and the real electorate","volume":"20","author":"S Ansolabehere","year":"2012","journal-title":"Polit Anal"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0360051.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"723","DOI":"10.1093\/poq\/nfz051","article-title":"Validating self-reported turnout by linking public opinion surveys with administrative records","volume":"83","author":"T Enamorado","year":"2019","journal-title":"Public Opin Q"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1561\/100.00006005","article-title":"The exaggerated effects of advertising on turnout: The dangers of self-reports","volume":"2","author":"L Vavreck","year":"2007","journal-title":"Q J Polit Sci"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0360051.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"985","DOI":"10.1093\/poq\/nft042","article-title":"Coding voter turnout responses in the Current Population Survey","volume":"77","author":"A Hur","year":"2013","journal-title":"Public Opin Q"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7312\/mung20086","volume-title":"Generation gap: Why the baby boomers still dominate American politics and culture","author":"K Munger","year":"2022"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3998\/mpub.9526877","volume-title":"The politics of millennials: Political beliefs and policy preferences of America\u2019s most diverse generation","author":"SM Rouse","year":"2018"},{"key":"pone.0360051.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"820","DOI":"10.1111\/ssqu.13148","article-title":"The massacre generation: Young people and attitudes about mass shooting prevention","volume":"103","author":"A Vegter","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soc Sci Q"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0360051","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T17:31:26Z","timestamp":1791999086000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0360051"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Tevfik Murat","family":"Yildirim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Stavanger","place":["NORWAY"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0360051","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]]}}}