Democracy Program at the Brennan Center

[Jin Wah]

In a statement provided to The New York Times on Thursday, McConnell sought to clarify his remarks, saying that he has “consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans.”

A spokesperson for McConnell also cited Census Bureau demographic data on voter turnout for the past four federal elections. In the 2020 election, for example, 62.6% of eligible Black Americans voted, compared with 66.8% of all eligible Americans, a difference of 4.2 percentage points. In the 2018, 2016 and 2014 elections, the gaps were even smaller, at about 2 percentage points.

So while Black American voter turnout is not “just as high” as overall voter turnout, as McConnell said, it does seem comparable in several recent elections.

But the disparity is more stark between Black and white voters. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Michael McDonald, a voter turnout expert at the University of Florida, Black Americans have almost always voted at lower rates than white Americans. The exceptions were in 2008 and 2012, when Barack Obama was on the ballot. Those were the only years in which Black turnout surpassed white turnout.

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 Episode 3
RuPauls Drag Race Season 14 Episode 3 s14x3