Presidential primaries traditionally engage only a small portion of the American electorate. Since the primaries became the dominant method of delegate selection a quarter century ago, in no year has the number casting ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries exceeded 40% of those participating in the November general election. However, in New Hampshire, a much larger proportion of the state’s voters regularly turn out for the presidential primary.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY TURNOUTS SINCE 1952
	Democrats	Republicans	Combined Primary Vote	General Election Turnout	Primary Vote as Percent of General Election Vote
1952	35,995	92,530	128,525	272,950	47.1%
1956	25,646	57,064	82,710	266,994	31.0%
1960	50,899	73,031	123,930	295,761	41.9%
1964	30,777	92,853	123,630	288,093	42.9%
1968	55,464	103,938	159,402	297,298	53.6%
1972	88,854	117,208	206,062	334,055	61.7%
1976	82,381	111,674	194,055	339,618	57.1%
1980	111,930	147,157	259,087	383,990	67.5%*
1984	101,131	75,570	176,701	389,066	45.4%
1988	123,512	157,644	281,156	451,074	62.3%
1992	167,819*	174,165	341,984	537,943*	63.6%
1996	91,562	208,938	300,500	499,175	60.2%
2000	154,639	238,606*	393,245*
Note: An asterisk (*) notes the highest turnout in each category. Primary turnouts for 2000 are based on official returns from the office of the New Hampshire secretary of state.