A majority of registered voters (62%) say they will or already have cast their ballot in person in the 2024 general election, with 38% planning to vote on Election Day and 24% planning to vote at an early voting location (or already having done so).
Meanwhile, 28% of voters say that they expect to cast their vote by absentee or mail-in ballot (or already have).
Trump supporters are more likely than Harris supporters to plan to vote in person, while Harris supporters are more than twice as likely as Trump supporters to plan to vote by mail.
- 74% of Trump supporters say they’ll vote in person, including 48% who say they will do so on Election Day (26% say they will vote early in person).
- By contrast, 52% of Harris supporters say they plan to vote in person (29% on Election Day, 23% early).
- 39% of Harris supporters expect to vote absentee or by mail, while just 17% of Trump supporters expect to use this method.
These differences in vote method largely echo patterns seen in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm election.
Overall, the share of voters who intend to use each method of voting is only modestly different from the 2022 midterm election. But voters are substantially less likely to say they are planning to vote by mail than they were at this time in the 2020 campaign (when 39% of voters expected to vote that way) amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
How easy will it be to vote this year?
About eight-in-ten voters (81%) expect it to be easy for them to vote in this year’s election, including 43% who say it will be very easy and 38% who say it will be somewhat easy. About two-in-ten (19%) say they expect it to be difficult to vote this year.
These perceptions are roughly on par with the 2022 and 2018 elections. In 2020, about a third of voters (35%) expected that voting would be difficult that year.
Today, large majorities of both Republican (83%) and Democratic (80%) candidate supporters say voting will be easy for them in November.
How demographic groups view voting
Across demographic groups, registered voters generally expect voting to be easy this year, with relatively modest differences in these views.
Race and ethnicity
Seven-in-ten Black voters say voting will be at least somewhat easy this year, compared with 75% of Hispanic voters, 82% of Asian voters and 84% of White voters.
White voters are particularly likely to say it will be very easy to vote (47%). By comparison, 35% of Hispanic voters, 31% of Black voters and 29% of Asian voters say voting will be very easy.
Age
Voters under 30 are less likely than those in other age groups to say voting this year will be very easy: 31% say this, compared with 47% of voters 50 and older and 41% of those 30 to 49.
Education
Across education levels, large majorities of voters expect voting in November to be easy. Voters with a college degree, however, are more likely than those without one to expect voting to be very easy.
About half of voters with at least a four-year college degree (48%) say voting will be very easy, compared with 39% of those with some college or less education.
