Surge Of Older Voters Swayed 2024 Election

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/12/2025) Voters 66 years of age and over who live in Saginaw and points north voted in significantly higher numbers in 2024 compared to 2020, helping Republican President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates perform well in Michigan, according to a deep numbers crunch from Target Insyght for MIRS News.

Nearly 400,000 more older voters cast a ballot in 2024 than in 2020. That's more than eight times the number of new voters among the other five voting age demographics tracked combined.

In 2020, voters in this older demographic made up 22 percent of Michigan's voting universe. In 2024, that percentage moved up 5 percentage points to 27 percent. Meanwhile, no other age demographic made up a larger slice of the voting pie in 2024 compared to 2020. 

Those 18-24 stayed at 9 percent. Those 25-34 stayed at 15 percent. The 25-34 band slid slightly from 23 percent to 22 percent. Those 50 to 60 went from 21 percent of the voting universe to 18 percent.

"Grandma and grandpa swung this election," said Ed Sarpolus of Target Insyght.

Votings lining up to cast ballots

Sarpolus said he stumbled on this trend as he was sifting through the Secretary of State's public voter file on who participated in the 2024 election compared to 2020 and vice versa. He found that 623,363 people who voted in 2020 didn't vote in 2024, but 1.1 million people who didn't vote in 2020 did vote in 2024.

Overall, 5,5679,317 Michiganders voted in 2020. Meanwhile, 5,691,235 voted in 2024. It's only a difference of 111,918 votes.

Where did they come from, Sarpolus asked himself? Who were these people?

Looking through municipal data, Sarpolus found 72 cities and townships where the percentage increase in voters participating in the 2024 election was 10 percent or higher than 2020. In all but four instances, these cities and townships were Up North. In all, 67 had a Republican base of 50 percent or higher. Also, 61 of these 72 municipalities had a Republican base of 60 percent or higher.

Sarpolus noted that Trump did not win Michigan by a landslide. He won by 80,103 votes. What he sees is that surge in older voters living in heavily Republican areas Up North were inspired to participate in 2024, even though they weren't in 2020.