New Hampshire voters set a record high for turnout this year - but they were going against a national tide, says a new study of this year's presidential campaign season.
Overall turnout in primaries through April 7 was down 11.8 percent in states that had similar contests in 1988, according to findings by the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.Most of the drop is among Democrats - 18.4 percent, compared to 4.1 percent on the GOP side.
The Republicans are holding fairly steady considering 1988 was the year of a heated race between President Bush and Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas.
Even though Bush is certain to be renominated and his challenger is viewed by many as a protest rather than a serious candidate, "one-third of the GOP electorate seems angry enough to vote against the president," said committee director Curtis Gans.
The Democrats posted record low turnout in Florida, Georgia, New York, Tennessee and Texas. "The choices are propelling people to the sidelines," Gans said.
New Hampshire bucked the overall trend with a 21.5 percent increase - setting a record of 41.3 percent of eligible voters going to the polls.
Gans cited several factors to explain the record high turnout:
-Five Democrats were on the ballot.
-It's a small state where person-to-person campaigning is the norm.
-Its deeply troubled economy gave voters in both parties good reason to care about the election and the president's performance.
"There was a more serious dialogue," Gans said. "Once you moved out of New Hampshire, you moved into 30-second spots and tarmac rallies."
Gans blamed the so-called Junior Tuesday and Super Tuesday - a cluster of 18 contests on March 3 and March 10 - for minimizing citizen involvement, maximizing negative campaigning, depleting campaign resources and driving candidates from the race.
Turnout also increased in five other states: Massachusetts, Illinois, Oklahoma, Maryland and Rhode Island.
By contrast, 10 states recorded decreases - New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Wisconsin. The sharpest Democratic drop came in the South, where turnout sank 27.3 percent.