Politics

McCain Boosted Turnout

March 10, 2000 / 7:51 AM EST / CBS/AP

Record turnout in many Republican presidential primaries this year was more a sign of dissatisfaction with the current political system than a cause for euphoria, says the director of a group that monitors voter turnout.

And the high showings are no indicator of voter enthusiasm for the fall because it was based largely on one candidate - and he's put his candidacy on hold.

"The story of this primary season was McCain," said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. He was referring to Arizona Sen. John McCain, who suspended his bid for the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday after losing to George W. Bush in many states earlier in the week.

GOP voter turnout by state

"McCain mobilized alienated independents and disaffected Democrats into Republican primaries," Gans said Thursday. "He spawned an organizational counterrevolution from Christian conservatives and regular Republicans."

Turnout in the 18 Republican contests held so far was up 4.3 percentage points from 1996, to 13.6 percent of the voting age population. That was the highest level in GOP primaries since the 14.8 percent of 1964, when another Arizona lightning rod, Sen. Barry Goldwater, ran for president, according to the committee's report.

New GOP presidential primary turnout records were set in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Washington state, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Missouri, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island and Vermont.

"It was McCain, simply McCain, recruiting people from outside the party and some disaffected Democrats," said Gans. "He had this biography of a hero, he seemed to talk in less programmed language, he was generally appealing."

Turnout rose higher, Gans said, because "McCain was very hostile to the Republican establishment, then took on leaders of the Christian right. He gave (Republicans) reason to mobilize."

Democratic turnout in the primaries was the second lowest in 40 years, 10.1 percent of the voting age population, with only the uncontested renomination of President Clinton in 1996 coming in lower, according to Gans' report.

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The Republicans were in a "celebrity death match ... wrestling for the heart and soul of their party," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jenny Backus. GOP officials have cited the high turnout and crossover voters as a sign of Republican strength.

But Gans noted that in caucuses and primaries such as Iowa and Delaware in which McCain was not a contestant, turnout was lower.

"The message of the turnout is that there's a lot of alienation out there, particularly among the independents," Gans said. "It's precisely the opposite of euphoria. It was unhappy people looking for hope."