The 2018 midterm election had the highest turnout of any election ever at 50%.
Posted by Badlands Media, Checked
- Sources
- 1 contradict3 support4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Badlands MediaSep 16, 2026
Read as the post's midterm-only claim, the record supports it: 2018 had about 50% turnout, the highest midterm rate since 1914. Read literally as 'highest turnout of any election ever,' it is contradicted, since PolitiFact reports 2020 overall turnout at 66.7%.
The guest disputes this claim. Our verdict is not a clear true or false, so it is shown here, not scored.
What was said
… But calling local election workers the pageantry of democracy is a slap in the face. To everything that they say about election workers, and did you notice, Brian, that when he said, the highest turnout of any election that we have ever had is 50%, and it was 2018, that is a ridiculous assertion when you consider that we had in the middle of a global pandemic, the highest turnout recorded, I think it was the second highest in the world in the latest national. Terms though. I think he was just talking about mid term. …
Badlands Media · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. PolitiFact reports that overall turnout in 2020 was 66.7%, so 2018's roughly 50% was not the highest turnout of any election ever, and the 50% figure was for midterms only.[1]
Supports. Multiple sources report that 2018 had the highest midterm turnout rate since 1914, at roughly 50% of eligible voters (50.3%, 50.1%, 49.2%).[3][6][7]
Context. The Census Bureau gives 53.4% for 2018 on a citizen voting-age population basis, and AP notes 2018 had the highest raw vote total for a non-presidential election, so the figures depend on the denominator used.[2][4][5][8]
Sources
8 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 3 primary, 1 tier 2, 2 not rated
- 1Instagram post wrongly characterizes voter turnout datapolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
- 2Correction: Election 2018-Turnout story - AP Newsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 32018 voter turnout: Was it as impressive as it seemed? (Mar-Apr 2019)incontext.indiana.edu · primary source · cited for: supports
- 4Voter Turnout Rates Among All Voting Age and Major ...census.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 5Important Data on the 2018 Elections Released Todayeac.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 6The 2018 midterms had the highest turnout since before World ...vox.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 7fortune.com › 2018/11/14 › voter-turnout-highest2018 Midterm Voter Turnout Highest Since 1914 | Fortunefortune.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 8Historic highs in 2018 voter turnout extended across racial and ethnic groupspewresearch.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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