Skip Navigation

Public Opinion Quarterly 2005 69(1):113-123; doi:10.1093/poq/nfi003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Highton, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org.

Self-Reported versus Proxy-Reported Voter Turnout in the Current Population Survey

Benjamin Highton

University of California, Davis

Address correspondence to the author; e-mail: bhighton{at}ucdavis.edu.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) Voter Supplement is a premier source of data on turnout in the United States. A little-known aspect of the survey is that for a sizable proportion of people, turnout is measured by proxy—one member of a household reports for another member—rather than self-reports of having voted. The purpose of this research note is to investigate how the use of proxy-reported turnout affects conclusions about the determinants of turnout in America. The results suggest a generally optimistic assessment. Although proxy-reported turnout is about 4 percentage points lower than self-reported turnout, the individual-level correlates of turnout and interstate turnout differences are mostly similar for the two measures.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.