Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for July 3, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
July 3, 2017: When the Constitution was drafted, it was expected that congressional turnover would be about 50 percent each year. And it was fairly high throughout the 19th century. But, as the results from 2016 show, incumbent politicians in the 21st century have a pretty high level of job security.
- In the U.S. House, 380 of the 393 House incumbents seeking re-election won, a re-election rate of 96.7 percent. The average margin of victory was 37.1 percent.
- In the Senate, 27 of the 29 incumbents running were re-elected (93.1 percent).
- Among state legislators, 4,648 out of 4,883 incumbents were victorious (95.2 percent).
- Among statewide executives, 44 of 51 were re-elected (86.3 percent).
- Even at the local level, 82.4 percent of school board incumbents who ran for re-election won additional terms in 2016.
In 2017, state legislative races will be held in New Jersey and Virginia. Of the 360 possible Democratic and Republican primary matchups, only 51 were contested. Still, this 14.2 percent rate of contested primaries is up from 8.9 percent four years ago. Few incumbents are expected to lose in the general elections.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- June 30, 2017 – 178 elected officials targeted for recall this year
- June 29, 2017 – 10 years ago today, the first iPhone was released—the most revolutionary product ever
- June 28, 2017 – 59 percent of liberals would participate in civil protest—up from 41 percent before Trump was elected
- June 27, 2017 – 32,242,443 public interactions with police could be eliminated by self-driving cars
- June 26, 2017 – 72 percent of Americans have fired a gun
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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