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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

Is split-ticket voting common in the US?

By Miriam Himelstein
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NO

Split-ticket voting—backing candidates from different parties in the same election—is increasingly rare.

In 2012, only 6% of voters in House districts voted for presidential and congressional candidates belonging to different parties. In 2018, split-ticket voting hit a low in Senate and gubernatorial races. In 2020 pre-election polling, only 4% of registered voters in states with Senate contests indicated an intention to back opposing parties in the presidential and Senate races.

But split-ticket voting can still hold sway. In 2020, 52.9% of voters in Maine voted for Democrat Joe Biden for president, while 51.1% voted to reelect Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Split-ticket voting can be influenced by incumbency or a candidate's degree of popularity (or unpopularity).

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Pew Research Center: Split-ticket districts, once common, are now rare
Washington Post: The decline and fall of split-ticket voting, visualized
FiveThirtyEight: Split-ticket voting hit a new low in 2018 Senate and governor races
Pew Research Center: Large shares of voters plan to vote a straight party ticket for president, Senate and House
Politico: Maine 2020 election results
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Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.