An estimated 69 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population of voting age¹ said they voted in the November 1964 national election according to the November 1964 Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. About 72 percent of all men and 67 percent of all women of voting age were reported as having gone to the polls to vote. Statistics are based on answers to the question "Did (this person) vote in the national election held on November 3?" asked about 2 weeks after the election of a representative sample of approximately 33,000 households including 65,000 persons of voting age.² Participation in the national election varied by age, sex, and race, and by various social and economic characteristics.

Substantial differences in voter participation rates occurred by age. Persons under 25 years old had the lowest voter participation rate--about half of those eligible on the basis of age, voted. About two-thirds of the population 25 to 34 years old voted. The rate increased to about three-fourths of those in each 10-year age group from 35 to 74 years old. At age 75 and over, however, the proportion voting dropped to a little more than half of all persons in that age group (table 1).

For persons of all ages combined, a smaller proportion of women than men were reported as having voted. The difference between the proportion of voters among men and women increased with age. At the younger adult ages, 25 to 44 years, 70 percent of the men and 68 percent of the women voted; corresponding percentages at ages 65 to 74 were 77 and 66 percent and at ages 75 and over, 66 and 49 percent, respectively (table 1).

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¹ Population 21 years and over except as follows: 18 years and over in Georgia (since 1944), 18 years and over in Kentucky (since 1956), 19 years and over in Alaska (since 1958), and 20 years and over in Hawaii (since 1958).

² The counts of persons who voted, cited in the following discussion, are the counts of persons who were reported either by themselves or by members of their households, as having voted. Some of these persons may not have actually voted. See discussion of accuracy of data beginning on page 4.