--- description: The last time voter turnout was this low, the U.S. was fighting WWII title: 2014 Midterm Turnout Lowest Since World War II image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604a52bd5360a895/698767f22dce010db69dbb53/vote-midterm-election.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2014 Election](/tag/2014-election/) ## 2014 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Voter Turnout in Midterm Elections Hits 72-Year Low  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2014 5:17 PM CUT  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](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 10, 2014 5:17 PM CUT 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 "undefined")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 "undefined") 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. Brown—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3576090/midterm-elections-turnout-world-war-two/","name":"Voter Turnout in Midterm Elections Hits 72-Year Low"}}]}] ```