An analysis from Austin Community College’s Center for Public Policy and Political Studies (CPPPS) reveals straight-ticket voting in the 2016 November general election constituted nearly two-thirds of all votes cast statewide.
In the 37 counties that accounted for 80 percent of all votes cast for president in 2016, straight-ticket voting constituted 64.04 percent of all ballots cast.
“Straight-ticket voting is now the dominant factor in determining the outcome of general elections in Texas, and since 2008 its dominance has grown,” says Peck Young, CPPPS director. “In most counties, the political party that won the larger percentage of the straight-ticket vote also resulted in the party’s candidate winning the county in the presidential contest.”
In the 37 counties included in the study in 2016, Republicans, for the first time, received less than 50 percent of the straight ticket vote (49.74 percent) while the Democrats got their highest percentage since 2000 (48.38 percent).
The study, written by retired ACC government professor Stefan Haag with the assistance of Young, is a continuation of the analysis of straight-ticket voting in Texas of gubernatorial and presidential elections since 1998.
View the complete report on the CPPPS webpage, austincc.edu/cppps.
Tags: CPPPS, election, report, straight-ticket voting
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