There is a giant 'enthusiasm gap' between Democrat and Republican voters

Polls show that different voters hold different levels of enthusiasm.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 31 December 2015

Who's feeling excited about voting for president next year? "Not I," say a lot of Democrats, according to the latest CNN/ORC International poll. Measuring the levels of excitement for the 2016 election, CNN/ORC found a large "enthusiasm gap" between voters who lean left or right: Thirty-six percent of Republicans felt "very enthusiastic" about voting for the next president, compared to the Democrat's lukewarm 19 percent.

Naturally, Democrats brush off the enthusiasm gap as any sort of indication of what will happen next year, with Hillary Clinton pollster John Anzalone telling Politico that, “Sitting here in almost-January-2016, any diagnostic on enthusiasm or motivation is really useless." But Republicans point out that the enthusiasm gap is likely due at least in part to a dislike for Obama and Clinton.

“As much as we want our politics to be all positive, what drives turnout to a great extent is just being pissed off at somebody," GOP pollster Jon McHenry said.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.