In this thread discussing different strategies to win elections of fire up the base vs appeal to swing voters
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=859492
I stated that in all elections other than presidential ones, it is best to focus on the base of the party since they are more likely to show up to vote. My argument is that turnout in non-presidential elections is low enough that the base of the 2 parties provide enough voters to win an election.
So what is turnout for various elections on the federal and state level?
Here are some rough figures of voter turnout as a % of eligible voters
Presidential election - 55-60%
Midterm federal election - 40%
Federal presidential primary - 25-30% if neither party has an incumbent (as low as 15% if one party has an incumbent)
Congressional primaries - 20-25%
Does anyone have other figures? I assume the primaries for state and local elections or the general elections in state and local are pretty low too but I’m not sure how low. Does the primary for a local or state election in an off year drop to 10%, or does the bottom seem to be about 20%?