Voter turnout is the foundation of the American system of government, and studying the factors influencing turnout is a key component to understanding what makes American voters tick. So, what makes voter turnout fluctuate? How do we even measure it? How has turnout changed over time? All this and more is the focus of today's episode of Politics with Paul.

Today's random question: Do you use the Oxford comma?

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(0:00) Introduction and today's topic

(1:02) How we measure turnout

(4:09) Historical levels of voter turnout

(9:51) Demographics correlated with higher turnout

(10:43) Introducing the categories I'm breaking up voter turnout into

(11:37) Turnout levels: Federal/state/local levels of government

(14:05) Turnout levels: Primaries vs. general elections

(17:25) Turnout levels: General elections in November vs. other months

(18:22) Turnout levels: Presidential/midterm/odd-year/special elections

(21:39) Turnout levels: Voter party affiliation and strength of partisan ties

(24:02) Turnout levels: Competitive vs. noncompetitive elections

(27:21) Turnout levels: Partisan vs. nonpartisan offices

(28:46) Turnout levels: Elected offices vs. ballot measures

(30:02) Other impacts on voter turnout

(35:18) Random question of the day