Poll: More Americans Planning Early Voting in 2022 Than During Past Three Midterms

An election worker opens envelopes containing vote-by-mail ballots in a file photo. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

A higher percentage of U.S. voters this year are planning to vote ahead of the 2022 Election Day or have already voted, as compared to other recent midterms, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A Gallup poll found that some 41 percent of registered voters have already voted or are planning to vote before Nov. 8, which is up from 34 percent during the 2018 midterms. It noted that during the 2014 and 2010 midterms, only about 26 percent said they planned to vote or had already voted.

However, the poll, which was carried out between Oct. 3 and Oct. 20, said that just 2 percent said they voted. The other 39 percent said they were planning to cast their ballots before Nov. 8.

“The level of planned early voting” this year “still does not reach what Gallup measured in the 2020 presidential election year, during the coronavirus pandemic and before COVID-19 vaccines were available,” the pollster wrote. It said that two years ago, 64 percent of voters said they planned to vote early as opposed to 32 percent who planned to vote on Election Day.

“It is unclear how much pandemic concerns boosted early voting in 2020 because the practice has historically been more common in presidential than in midterm election years,” it said, noting that early voting is most popular among voters living on the West Coast.

Gallup added that as well as “regional differences,” the survey found “variation in early voting by age and gender. Senior citizens are more inclined than younger voters to cast their ballot before Election Day, with the majority of voters aged 65 and older planning to vote early. Additionally, women are more likely than men to vote before Election Day.”

The United States Election Project, run by the University of Florida, reports that 28.3 million people have cast mail-in ballots or voted early and in person. The project has collected data from about 44 states and the District of Columbia.

About 16.6 million have returned mail-in ballots, while another 11 million have voted at early polling places, it found. California, Texas, and Florida are leading the way with more than 3 million early ballots cast apiece.

Meanwhile, other recent polls have signaled that voters are increasingly worried about the state of the U.S. economy, with many naming inflation as their top concern. Last month’s data revealed the consumer price index, a key metric of inflation, rose to 8.2 percent year-over-year for September, running close to the 40-year high.

A poll from CNN released Tuesday show that about 51 percent of all voters believe inflation will be the top issue in determining their vote, as compared to 15 percent who said abortion access is their top concern.

The latest Gallup poll surveyed 897 registered voters between Oct. 3 and Oct. 20 with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.