Drew DeSilver

Many of the millions of Americans voting in Tuesday's midterm elections will have to do so while working around the demands of their jobs – hitting their polling places before work, taking an extra-long lunch break or going afterward and hoping to make it before the polls close. As they stand in line, many of them may wonder why it is that the United States votes on a Tuesday, of all days.

On election night 2018, besides the exit polls there will be an additional source of data on who voted and why, developed by The Associated Press, Fox News and NORC at the University of Chicago and based on a very different methodology. That means that depending on where you go for election news, you may get a somewhat different portrait of this year's electorate.

Although most Americans back a higher minimum wage, wide disparities in local living costs make finding an appropriate rate difficult.

Turnout in this year's primaries for Congress and most state governorships surged compared with the last midterms in 2014, particularly among Democrats. Nearly a fifth (19.6%) of registered voters – about 37 million – cast ballots in primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives – a 56% increase over the 23.7 million who voted in 2014's House primaries. Turnout that year was 13.7% of registered voters.

While women are still underrepresented in top corporate jobs, there has been a small increase in the share of women executives in such positions over the past decade.

At least 65 of the current voting members of Congress are immigrants or the children of immigrants. These members represent nearly half of U.S. states.

Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today's real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.

Mitch McConnell’s decision to shorten the chamber’s August recess isn’t unprecedented. But in an election year – when a third of senators are on the campaign trail – it’s unusual.

Read a Q&A with Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research at Pew Research Center, on a new report that explores Americans' ability to distinguish factual news statements from opinions.