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Public Opinion Quarterly 59:568-588 (1995)
© 1995 American Association for Public Opinion Research

"SECRET BALLOTS" AND SELF-REPORTS IN AN EXIT-POLL EXPERIMENT

GEORGE F. BISHOP and BONNIE S. FISHER

GEORGE F. BISHOP is a professor in the Department of Political Science, Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, University of Cincinnati. BONNIE S. FISHER is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, University of Cincinnati

A controlled exit-poll experiment on Election Day (November 3, 1992) shows that refusals to answer questions and other evasive forms of responding were significantly lower when respondents were given a self-administered "secret-ballot" questionnaire than when they were interviewed face-to-face. While there were some suggestive interactions of this mode-of-data collection effect with age and sex, and with the partisan atmosphere of the precinct in which the interviews were conducted, they were borderline in significance, inconsistent in pattern, or difficuit to interpret. More important, comparisons with official election returns (the truth) indicated that the secret-ballot technique was more accurate than were face-to-face interviews in estimating the final outcome on the most socially sensitive of three self-reported votes: a vote for or against a tax levy for elderly services. Using a genuine secret ballot in the tradition of the older Gallup preelection polls can thus increase the validity of self-reports in exit polls today.


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