Participation measured against the same-year citizen voting-age population. Audited cycles count total general-election participants — ballots or participating voters, not presidential candidate votes. Cycles before 2016 predate that series and are derived from the certified presidential returns instead; they are marked everywhere they appear and are excluded from the figures below.
2004–20248 cycles · 5 audited
2024 turnout
73.4%16,618 participants ÷ 22,627 CVAP
2020→2022 drop-off
+19.4 ptsVolatile
Drop-off vs state
+4.2 ptsPositive means a larger decline than the statewide pattern
Mechanical 2026
54.1%–60.5%Recent-cycle and two-cycle persistence scenarios; not a forecast
Participation by cycle
Presidential Midterm Derived, pre-2016
0%20%40%60%80%
54.0%
52.8%
20042008201220162018202020222024
Select a presidential cycle to show it on the map and results ledger above.
Cycle
Participants
CVAP
Turnout
Series
Quality
16,618
22,627 ± 796
73.4%
Audited
E/A
2022Mid
12,321
23,337 ± 802
52.8%
Audited
E/A
16,622
23,027 ± 741
72.2%
Audited
E/A
2018Mid
12,589
23,325 ± 648
54.0%
Audited
E/A
14,240
23,517 ± 667
60.6%
Audited
E/A
14,413
23,448
61.5%
Derived
—
15,267
21,545
70.9%
Derived
—
15,122
19,642 extrapolated
77.0%
Derived
—
Sources and methods
Audited cycles (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024) count total general-election participants against the same-year CVAP special tabulation, each cell carrying its own numerator and denominator quality grade. Derived cycles (2004, 2008, 2012) come from the certified presidential returns on this page over the ACS 5-year CVAP series, so they measure presidential votes cast rather than ballots — a floor on participation. Where a derived cycle predates the ACS its denominator is extrapolated rather than read, and says so on its own line below. They are shown for the longer arc and are excluded from the drop-off, excess-drop-off, and 2026 scenario figures above.
2024: numerator source 160, denominator source 157; estimated total ballots; preferred-county:block-reference-presidential-or-cvap-weight:v2; allocation share 100.0%; series 323/229.
2022: numerator source 160, denominator source 157; estimated total ballots; preferred-county:block-reference-presidential-or-cvap-weight:v2; allocation share 100.0%; series 322/184.
2020: numerator source 160, denominator source 157; estimated total ballots; preferred-county:block-reference-presidential-or-cvap-weight:v2; allocation share 100.0%; series 321/4.
2018: numerator source 160, denominator source 157; estimated total ballots; preferred-county:block-reference-presidential-or-cvap-weight:v2; allocation share 100.0%; series 320/139.
2016: numerator source 160, denominator source 157; estimated total ballots; preferred-county:block-reference-presidential-or-cvap-weight:v2; allocation share 100.0%; series 319/133.
2012 (derived): Certified presidential returns · ACS 5-year CVAP (B05003); presidential votes cast — a floor on participation, not a ballot count.
2008 (derived): Certified presidential returns · ACS 5-year CVAP (B05003); presidential votes cast — a floor on participation, not a ballot count.
2004 (derived): Certified presidential returns · extrapolated CVAP denominator; presidential votes cast — a floor on participation, not a ballot count; 2004 predates the ACS, so the denominator is a linear back-extrapolation from the 2008 and 2012 CVAP values, not a read figure.
presidential history
Party record book
Southgate, MI · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
2004–2024 · 6 presidential cycles
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2008
62.1%
9,474 votes · D+26.1
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2012 · 60.8%
Republican
Donald Trump2024
49.1%
8,102 votes · D+0.1
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 46.3%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2008
9,474votes
62.1% of the vote · D+26.1
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2012 · 8,766 votes
Republican
Donald Trump2024
8,102votes
49.1% of the vote · D+0.1
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 7,647 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
Barack Obama2008
+18.8pts D vs U.S.
Place D+26.1 · U.S. D+7.3
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2012 · +18.8 pts
Republican
Donald Trump2016
−1.0pts R vs U.S.
Place D+3.1 · U.S. D+2.1
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · −1.3 pts
U.S. House elections · 1 House
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each row shows U.S. House votes counted inside this Place. “Vote lead” is the local lead here, not necessarily the winner of the full contest.
Southgate · which candidate this place backed in each party’s presidential nominating contest, cycle by cycle. A primary is a contest inside one party, so it has no Democratic–Republican margin and is not part of the general-election record above.
Akashic reports votes cast, not delegates awarded. The two can disagree: Clinton led the 2008 national primary popular vote by less than half a point and did not win the nomination.
Primary returns are published at county grain. The figures below are Wayne County, Michigan, the county containing Southgate — Southgate’s own primary vote sits inside those totals and is not separately reported.
Presidential nominating contests in Southgate, by party and cycle.
○no contest record — Akashic holds no result for that party and cycle here. It is not a claim that no contest was held. Telling apart a contest that was cancelled, one that went uncontested, and one simply not yet ingested needs a nominating-contest calendar, which is a separate ingest from results and does not exist yet.
Republican presidential primaries are not yet ingested — the Republican series runs from 1856 and is in scope. The row is kept so its absence is visible: a Democratic-only panel would otherwise read as though no one else held a contest.
Where a cell reads All others, no named candidate led — the source’s residual bucket did. That bucket holds every name past the ones the contest itemises, including candidates who had withdrawn but still drew votes. It is a total, not a person, so it carries no candidate colour.
Akashic carries 10 states for 2012 and 3 states for 2024. Cycles in which an incumbent president seeks renomination are thin by nature — few states run a contested primary — so a sparse column is politics, not a hole in the record.
County returns carry a leader and a lead over the runner-up, and nothing more. The full candidate field with vote shares is published at state grain — follow a cycle above to the state contest for it.
Southgate sits in Wayne County's Downriver corridor, a belt of working-class communities where union household density has historically anchored Democratic margins but ticket-splitting remains a persistent feature of local races.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 26.1 points in 2008. Between 2020 and 2024 the city moved 5.7 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 0.1 points.
A population of 29,366, a 75% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $66,118 describe the city. The city's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Wyandotte and Garden City.
Akashic
Political twins — cities
The cities whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
In 2024, Southgate, Michigan voted a near-tie (D+0.1), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 16,507 votes cast, 8,119 went Democratic and 8,102 went Republican.
How many people live in Southgate, Michigan?
Southgate, Michigan has a population of 29,366 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Southgate, Michigan?
Median household income in Southgate, Michigan is $66,118 — below the national median of $80,734. The Michigan state median is $72,875.
What is the political history of Southgate, Michigan?
Akashic tracks 6 presidential elections in Southgate, Michigan from 2004 to 2024. Of those, 6 went Democratic and 0 went Republican.
