--- title: 2014 Midterm Turnout Lowest Since World War II description: The last time voter turnout was this low, the U.S. was fighting WWII canonical: https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-10T17:17:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:20:20.694Z article:section: Politics og:title: 2014 Midterm Turnout Lowest Since World War II og:description: The last time voter turnout was this low, the U.S. was fighting WWII og:url: https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604a52bd5360a895/698767f22dce010db69dbb53/vote-midterm-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4600 og:image:height: 2588 og:image:alt: Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Alhambra, Calif. on November 4, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2014 Midterm Turnout Lowest Since World War II twitter:description: The last time voter turnout was this low, the U.S. was fighting WWII twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604a52bd5360a895/698767f22dce010db69dbb53/vote-midterm-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Voter Turnout in Midterm Elections Hits 72-Year Low > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4ff934d1-5e1b-48de-a24e-eab3cebac050&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2014 5:17 PM UTC  Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Alhambra, Calif. on November 4, 2014. Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Alhambra, Calif. on November 4, 2014. Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2014 5:17 PM UTC The last time voter turnout for a national election was as low as it was on Nov.4, Hitler was still in power, and Mitch McConnell was only nine months old. Only 36.4% of eligible voters voted in this year’s midterm elections, down from 40.9% who voted in 2010, according to preliminary analysis by [Michael McDonald ](http://online.wsj.com/articles/election-2014-results-show-limits-of-big-data-1415585721)at the University of Florida. The last time voter turnout was that low was 1942, when only 33.9% of voters cast ballots, according to the [United States Elections Project.](http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present) That was also a year that the U.S. established the European Theater of Operations in WWII, so a large share of the voting population was a little busy doing other things. Voter turnout in presidential elections is historically much higher than in midterms– 58.2% of eligible voters voted in 2012, and 61.6% voted in 2008, the highest turnout since 1968\. In other words, turnout for Obama’s first presidential election was almost double the 2014 midterm turnout. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/"},"headline":"Voter Turnout in Midterm Elections Hits 72-Year Low","datePublished":"2014-11-10T17:17:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:20:20.694Z","description":"The last time voter turnout was this low, the U.S. was fighting WWII","url":"https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/","keywords":["2014 Election","Obama","elections","Mitch McConnell","Hitler","WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604a52bd5360a895/698767f22dce010db69dbb53/vote-midterm-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604a52bd5360a895/698767f22dce010db69dbb53/vote-midterm-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Alhambra, Calif. on November 4, 2014.","caption":"Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Alhambra, Calif. on November 4, 2014.","creditText":"Frederic J. 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