Michael McDonald, Ph.D. is a renowned Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida whose research mostly focuses on election turnout rates and how redistricting is done.
His work is widely known as he's the person who collects and distributes data used by academics and the media used as the official election turnout rates in the U.S.
McDonald also tracks early voting activity and aggregates it for public access.
While overall voter turnout was down in 2024 versus 2020, it was still up by recent standards because 2020 was a record-setting year. About 153 million Americans voted in 2024 versus 158 million in 2020.
The exceptions, this year, came in what are considered the ‘battleground states’ of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada.
To get a better understanding of what drives turnout, especially during these hyper-partisan times, and how partisan redistricting across the nation has impacted voter turnout rates and the way we vote, WGCU’s Mike Kiniry sat down with McDonald last week while he was on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus to give a talk through the school’s Provost’s Seminar Series.