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Corwin Smith

Corwin Smith

Associate Professor of Political Science and Interim Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University

Aug 12, 2026

It's Just Politics

It's Just Politics

Primary turnout

Aug 12 · 12m

Zoe ClarkHOST
5:56
What surprised you about these results?
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
5:59
You know, honestly, I would push back a little bit on people saying this was a massively unexpected high turnout.
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
6:06
That wasn't necessarily the case.
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
6:08
I had some expectation that it would be near this.
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
6:10
I think people need to understand that we in Michigan have had a series of really highly competitive elections and had really high turnout.
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
6:18
And, you know, we had record turnout in 2024.
Corwin Smith
Corwin SmithGUEST
6:21
We have a lot of people who are paying, who know their candidates and are attentive to politics.
Zoe ClarkHOST
9:59
So taking what you know about the electorate and turnout, what does all of this tell us vis-a-vis predictions for turnout come November?

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