Alexandra Middlewood said there has never been a presidential election race like 2024.
“We have no examples of something like this that has happened in modern times,” said Middlewood about President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race in July. “It’s certainly going to be an interesting year.”
Middlewood is an associate professor and the chair of the political science department at Wichita State. She said Biden dropping out just 100 days before the election has led to learning opportunities for the political science department, especially when looking at Kansas voting data.
Middlewood and associate political science professor Brian Amos have been managing the IKE Lab since February. The website compounds data on Kansas elections and voters.
As of August 2024, IKE Lab has reported that there are 1,997,408 registered voters in Kansas. The majority, at 44.8%, are Republicans, while Democrats make up 25.7%.
IKE also collected results from the March 19 presidential primary, noting that former President Donald Trump led all candidates at 72,115 votes, far surpassing the second-highest-voted candidate, Joe Biden, who had 35,906 votes.
Republicans in Kansas also had a 2.4% lead turnout over Democrats in Kansas.
Political science student Kian Williams noted an uptick in younger voters registering.
According to PBS, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has heavily attracted young voters through its youth-centric online campaigning, while Trump’s campaign has focused on the traditionally larger group of older voters.
“Once Kamala Harris got in, got the nomination, it was pretty business as usual,” said Williams, who is also an IKE Lab and political science research assistant.
Despite the late introduction, and the appeal to younger voters, Harris has kept even ground with Trump in the polls. Previous polls between Trump and Biden gave the former president a greater edge over the current president.
The election is likely to follow the pattern set in 2020, with a higher turnout of young voters, according to a political research center at Tufts University. First-time and repeat young voters have been registering at a record rate.
“We did see, I believe, under-30 voters break 50% turnout in 2020 for the first time again, and possibly ever,” Amos said “But I imagine it will be higher.”
While Kansas has maintained its status as a red state since 1964, nationwide, new, young voters have been voting primarily for Democrats.
“I think young voters should know that they do have influence in these elections,” Williams said. “The act of voting is, in itself, one of the most American, one of the most patriotic things that you can do.”
