Supporters for both Independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys will be trying to get out the vote in the presidential election. In recent presidential elections, turnouts have been much lower than in general elections, partly because they are what political scientists call “second order elections”, which voters don’t see as important as a general election. In the last presidential election in 2018, it was just 44 per cent. In the 2011 presidential election it was 56 per cent and in the 1997 election it was 48 per cent. How does a low turnout affect the result?
