We were all voting for Todd Akin

In this news release, the Missouri Republican Party claims that the Democrats lack enthusiasm. There could be another reason as noted in my headline.

Yesterday’s primary election results show that Republican voters are energized heading into the final three months of the campaign—but for the Democrats, the numbers show reasons to worry.

Republican turnout was the highest in a primary since 2004—significantly higher than even the 2008 primary which saw a highly competitive GOP race for Governor.   By contrast, the Democrats’ primary turnout was at its lowest level since 1998. 

While the Democrats’ will likely point out that they did not have a major competitive primary to drive turnout, it’s important to note that the same was true in 2010, 2008, 2006, 2002, or 2000—and yet, turnout was higher every single one of those years.

Please consider the following statement from Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri GOP: “The results of the primary show the wide enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats—but this shouldn’t come as any surprise.  Across the state, Republican voters are motivated and excited to elect conservatives while Democrats are tired of defending four years of failed, job-killing policies from Barack Obama and his allies, Claire McCaskill and Jay Nixon.”

Republican voters are energized:

* With more than 99% of precincts reporting, 602,792 votes have been cast in the GOP primary for Senate.

* This is the highest turnout for a GOP primary election since 2004, when 615,000 ballots were cast.

* GOP turnout was more than 34% higher than 2008, when Republicans had a competitive primary race for Governor.

Democrats are clearly unenthusiastic:

* Fewer Democrat ballots were cast than in any primary election since 1998.

* Despite the fact that there were no major competitive Democrat primaries to drive turnout in 2010, 2008, 2006, 2002, or 2000, more Democrat ballots were cast in each of those elections.