97 Percent of Congresspeople Running for Re-election in 2016 Successful

When the Constitution was drafted, it was expected that congressional turnover would be about 50 percent each year. And it was fairly high throughout the 19th century. But, as the results from 2016 show, incumbent politicians in the 21st century have a pretty high level of job security.

• In the U.S. House, 380 of the 393 House incumbents seeking re-election won, a re-election rate of 96.7 percent. The average margin of victory was 37.1 percent.
• In the Senate, 27 of the 29 incumbents running were re-elected (93.1 percent).
• Among state legislators, 4,648 out of 4,883 incumbents were victorious (95.2 percent).
• Among statewide executives, 44 of 51 were re-elected (86.3 percent).
• Even at the local level, 82.4 percent of school board incumbents who ran for re-election won additional terms in 2016.

In 2017, state legislative races will be held in New Jersey and Virginia. Of the 360 candidates, 309 have no primary challenger. Still, this 14.2 percent rate of primary challenges is up from 8.9 percent four years ago. Few incumbents are expected to lose in the general elections.

Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia. Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.

Scott Rasmussen is a Senior Fellow for the Study of Self-Governance at the King’s College in New York and an Editor-At-Large for Ballotpedia, the Encyclopedia of American Politics. His most recent book, "Politics Has Failed: America Will Not," was published by the Sutherland Institute in May.To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.