SENATE MID-TERM ELECTIONS 2006
Thirty-three states will conduct elections in late 2006 to determine the individual by party affiliation that will represent them in the U.S. Senate for the next six years. These thirty three (33) seats are currently held by Democrats (17), Republicans (15) and (1) Independent.
As early as June and as late as September, states that have the need will be conducting primary elections. If we use the 2002 data reflecting votes cast for the U.S. Senate by party as a recent barometer of voter turnout and sentiment, only 20.59% of the voters who went to the polls in the general election voted in the primary election. In terms of what trends were indicated, we get an array of mixed signals. In the primaries, 58.95% of the voters indicated a preference for the Democratic candidates, 40.45% chose Republican candidates and 0.06% chose "other" candidates. When the general election took place 46.06% of the voters came out for the Democratic candidates, 49.36% voted for Republican candidates and 4.58% chose "other" candidates. In round numbers, less than thirty percent of the age eligible voters vote in the mid-term election years than do in the Presidential election years.
