BETHLEHEM, Pa. — While off-cycle elections typically see low voter turnout, last week's election saw voters take to the polls, overwhelmingly voting for Democrats.
This week on Political Pulse, political scientist Chris Borick breaks down what these results might mean in future elections.
Host Tom Shortell joked that Borick wasn't optimistic enough about increased voter turnout this year.
"That one, I'll be happy to miss a little on the underside; Get people turning out," Borick said. "But who does turn out, right? And this is the shift in American politics."
Borick attributed the change in numbers to a demographic shift "that we've seen in realignment in politics," across the country, not just in the Lehigh Valley.
"You could do things in protest," Borick said. "You could do things in other aspects of life, but having a real opportunity at the ballot box was just overwhelmingly taken advantage of by Democratic voters."
Shortell noted increasing numbers of protests across the country, and the growing size of them potentially being hints at the influx of voters who intended to go to the polls this year.
"Sometimes I say, 'Well, that's a select group of people that feel passionate and are going to show up,' and that's important in American democracy," Borick said. "Will that be realized on Election Day? And the answer was, it was realized, and it may be a way that we clearly underestimated."
To learn more about how a political scientist interprets this cycle's election results and voter turnout, press play on the YouTube module above.
