ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Four years ago, in 2020, Albuquerque voters were trying to elect a would-be president from a field of candidates dominated by Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Now, those two once again lead the pack, but voters are less enthusiastic, at least in terms of turnout.
In Bernalillo County in 2024, voters strongly favored Joe Biden – who received 84% of the county’s vote – for the Democratic nomination and Donald Trump – who received 78% of the county’s vote – for the Republican nomination. That’s a near repeat of the 2020 primary, when Biden won 72% of the vote and Trump won 87%. But drastically different this time around is just how many voters showed up.
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Data from the New Mexico Secretary of State shows that turnout varied by voting precinct across Bernalillo County.
In the 2020 primary, nearly 88,000 Democratic voters hit the polls in Bernalillo County. In 2024, only 48,180 Democratic voters showed up to cast votes in the presidential races.
The story is the same for Republican voters. In 2020, over 46,000 voted in the primary election. This year, 24,257 cast their ballots, data from the Secretary of State shows.
“Compared to 2020, we would expect lower turnout given that in 2020 we had a contested primary for president here in New Mexico, which drove turnout in that election,” KRQE News 13 Political Analyst Gabe Sanchez says. This year, “Biden and Trump have essentially secured their nominations. Top of the ticket races drive enthusiasm and turnout.”
The unique pandemic situation in 2020 likely also played a role in high turnout. “We also saw the implementation of mail-absentee voting state-wide at an unprecedented level due to COVID-19, which helped fuel historic turnout that year,” Sanchez explains.
So, what does the low turnout in 2024 mean for the general election this fall? Sanchez says it’s entirely possible that turnout in November could also be low due to a “lack of overall enthusiasm voters have in either candidate.”
To hear Sanchez take a closer look at the results and the races during primary night, check out this KRQE News 13 story. More election results can be found at this link.
