74 Percent of Govt Workers Voted in 2016 Election

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 74 percent of the nation’s 21 million government workers voted in Election 2016. That’s a higher rate than private sector workers and those not in the workforce.[1]

Voter turnout among self-employed Americans was 69 percent. Those retired or not in the workforce for some other reason turned out at a 68 percent rate. Among those who worked for a private company, turnout was 61 percent.

Overall, government employees represent 9 percent of the U.S. population but cast 11 percent of the votes in 2016. Government employees are generally more supportive of higher taxes and activist government than other Americans. As a result, the higher levels of turnout among those paid by taxpayers could have significant policy implications.

If private sector employees turned out at the same rate as government employees, an additional 22 million private sector workers would have voted. That’s more than the total number of votes cast by all government employees.

If all those retired or otherwise not in the workforce had voted at the same 74 percent rate as government employees, they would have cast an additional 16 million votes. Again, that’s more than the total number of 15 million votes cast by those on the public payroll.

The turnout discrepancy was even greater in the 2014 midterm elections. Fifty-seven percent of government employees voted. That was higher than the turnout for the self-employed (47 percent) those who were employed in the private sector (39 percent), and those not in the workforce (42 percent). As a result, 12 percent of all votes cast in 2014 were cast by government workers representing just 9 percent of the population.

Footnotes:

1. United States Census Bureau, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2016," May 2017

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.​

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.