United States midterm election

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Midterm elections in the United States refer to general elections in the United States that are held two years after the quadrennial (four-year) elections for the President of the United States (i.e. near the midpoint of the four-year presidential term). Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms are members of the United States Congress, including all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, and the full terms for 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate.

In addition, 34 of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors to four-year terms during midterm elections, while Vermont and New Hampshire elect governors to two-year terms in both midterm and presidential elections. Thus, 36 governors are elected during midterm elections. Many states also elect officers to their state legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are many mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of citizen initiatives.

Special elections are often held in conjunction with regular elections, so additional Senators, governors and other local officials may be elected to partial terms.

Midterm elections usually generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections. Only about 40 percent of those eligible to vote actually go to the polls in midterm elections.^[1]

Historical record of midterm elections

Midterm elections are sometimes regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's and/or incumbent party's performance.^[2][3] They usually don't turn out well for the party of the president; over the past 21 midterm elections, the president's party has lost an average 30 seats in the House, and an average 4 seats in the Senate.

Year	Sitting President	President's Party	Net gain/loss of President's Party
			House seats	Senate seats
2010	Barack Obama	Democrat (D)	D-63	D-6
2006	George W. Bush	Republican (R)	R-30	R-6
2002			R+8	R+2
1998	Bill Clinton	D	D+5	0
1994			D-54	D-8
1990	George H. W. Bush	R	R-8	R-1
1986	Ronald Reagan		R-5	R-8
1982			R-26	0
1978	Jimmy Carter	D	D-15	D-3
1974	Gerald Ford	R	R-48	R-4
1970	Richard Nixon		R-12	R+1
1966	Lyndon B. Johnson	D	D-48	D-3
1962	John F. Kennedy		D-4	D+2
1958	Dwight D Eisenhower	R	R-48	R-12
1954			R-18	R-2
1950	Harry S Truman	D	D-28	D-5
1946			D-54	D-12
1942	Franklin D. Roosevelt		D-45	D-8
1938			D-72	D-7
1934			D+9	D+9
1930	Herbert Hoover	R	R-52	R-8
1926	Calvin Coolidge		R-9	R-7
1922	Warren Harding		R-77	R-7
1918	Woodrow Wilson	D	D-22	D-7
1914			D-61	D+4
1910	William Taft	R	R-57	R-3

Comparison with other U.S. General Elections

Basic rotation of U.S. general elections (fixed-terms only^[1])

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Type	Presidential	Off-yeara	Midterm	Off-yearb	Presidential
President	Yes	No			Yes
Senate	Class II (33 seats)	No	Class III (34 seats)	No	Class I (33 seats)
House	All 435 seats	No	All 435 seats	No	All 435 seats
Gubernatorial	11 states DE, IN, MO, MT, NH, NC, ND, UT, VT, WA, WV	2 states NJ, VA	36 states[2] AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, WI, WY	3 states KY, LA, MS	11 states DE, IN, MO, MT, NH, NC, ND, UT, VT, WA, WV
Other state and local officies	Varies from state-to-state, county-to-county, city-to-city, community-to-community, etc.

¹ This table does not include special elections, which are held to fill political offices that have become vacant between the regularly scheduled elections.

² Both the Governors of New Hampshire and Vermont are each elected to two-year terms. The other 48 state governors serve four-year terms.

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References

1. ^ "Demand for Democracy". The Pew Center on the States. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/trends_detail.aspx?id=31674. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
2. ^ Baker, Peter; VandeHei, Jim (2006-11-08). "A Voter Rebuke For Bush, the War And the Right". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110701697.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26. "Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove tried to replicate that strategy this fall, hoping to keep the election from becoming a referendum on the president's leadership." 
3. ^ "Election '98 Lewinsky factor never materialized". CNN. 1998-11-04. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/04/impeachment/. "Americans shunned the opportunity to turn Tuesday's midterm elections into a referendum on President Bill Clinton's behavior, dashing Republican hopes of gaining seats in the House and Senate." 

External links

• "Q&A: US mid-term elections". BBC News. 2006-11-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4734318.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-26. 
• "Q&A: mid-term elections". Channel 4. http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/qa%20midterm%20elections/170795.