Los Angeles, July 22, 2025 – After historically high turnout in the 2020 presidential election, California’s eligible voter turnout (turnout of adult citizens) decreased by nearly five percentage points in the 2024 general elections, according to a new study from the Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID) at the USC Price School of Public Policy. In an election in which approximately 16 million voters cast a ballot, the drop equates to more than one million fewer registered Californians voting in the November 2024 elections than in 2020.
“While we saw voter turnout gains in the 2020 elections, especially among California’s voters of color, this new study confirms a reversal of that progress,” said CID Director Mindy Romero and the study’s lead author. “Sadly, participation in our democracy continues to be low and disparate across the board, and even more significant for voters of color and youth voters. We need to do more to build trust and engagement in our electoral processes to reverse this trend.”
The report also found a nearly five-percentage-point decline in eligible turnout for Asian Americans between 2020 and 2024, and an even greater decline in participation for California’s Latinos – 7.6 percentage points between the two presidential elections.
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Find Out MoreIn terms of age, eligible youth voters age 18-24 saw a turnout decline of 7.7 percentage points, and a turnout decrease for eligible voters age 25-34 of 11.4 percentage points.
Similarly, the study uncovered greater voter loss among historically underrepresented groups. These voters were among what the report labeled “lost 2020 general voters,” comprised of registered voters who cast a ballot in 2020 but not in 2024. Lost voters included one-quarter of Latino registered voters, more than twice the share seen among white non-Latinos (11.5%). Nearly 21% of Asian American registered voters and 19.6% of Black registered voters who cast a ballot in 2020 also did not do so in 2024.
Other findings of the study include:
- At least one-fifth of 2024 registered voters under the age of 45 who voted in 2020 did not do so in the following presidential election, while older age groups saw smaller voter loss.
- More than 16% of registered Democrats who voted in 2020 did not cast a ballot four years later. Registered Republicans also had notable voter loss (12.5%) in 2024.
Read the full report here or a summary brief.
Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID)
The Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID) is part of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. CID’s mission is to improve the social and economic quality of life in U.S. communities by producing non-partisan research that informs policy and on-the-ground organizing efforts through education and outreach for a more engaged, transparent and representative democracy. CID conducts pioneering research that explores voting behavior, civic engagement, as well as electoral and economic issues at the intersection of social justice and democracy.
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