Do Surveys Overestimate or Underestimate Socioeconomic Differences in Voter Turnout? Evidence from Administrative Registers.

Surveys generally overestimate the overall level of voter turnout in elections due to both the misreporting of voting and nonresponse. It is sometimes argued that socioeconomic differences in turnout are exaggerated in surveys because social desirability has a more pronounced effect on eligible vote...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 363 - 386
Autores principales: Lahtinen, Hannu, Martikainen, Pekka, Mattila, Mikko, Wass, Hanna, Rapeli, Lauri
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Summer2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=138760422&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 138760422
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        0033362X
        POQ
      jtl: Public Opinion Quarterly
      issn: 0033362X
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Summer2019
      vid: 83
      iid: 2
      pid: 622
      pub: Oxford University Press / USA
    artinfo:
      ui:
        138760422
        10.1093/poq/nfz022
      ppf: 363
      ppct: 23
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Do Surveys Overestimate or Underestimate Socioeconomic Differences in Voter Turnout? Evidence from Administrative Registers.
      aug:
        au:
          Lahtinen, Hannu
          Martikainen, Pekka
          Mattila, Mikko
          Wass, Hanna
          Rapeli, Lauri
        affil:
          Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
          Karolinska Institutet at Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; and research affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
          Social Science Research Institute at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
      su:
        Finland. Eduskunta
        Socioeconomic factors
        Demographic surveys
        Social classes
        Voter turnout
        Political participation & society
        Elections & society
        Finnish politics & government, 1981-
      sug:
        subj:
          Socioeconomic factors
          Demographic surveys
          Social classes
          Finland. Eduskunta
          Voter turnout
          Political participation & society
          Elections & society
          Finnish politics & government, 1981-
      ab: Surveys generally overestimate the overall level of voter turnout in elections due to both the misreporting of voting and nonresponse. It is sometimes argued that socioeconomic differences in turnout are exaggerated in surveys because social desirability has a more pronounced effect on eligible voters in more advantaged socioeconomic positions. However, the contribution of nonresponse bias has not been taken into consideration in these assessments. Using a register-linked survey with information on the education, occupational social class, income, and voting in the 2015 Finnish parliamentary elections of both respondents and nonrespondents, this study shows that nonresponse bias leads to not only a larger overestimation of the overall level of turnout than social desirability, but also an underestimation of educational, social class, and income-related differences in the propensity to vote. Socioeconomic differences in the probability of voting in register-based data were at least two-thirds larger than differences obtained when using standard survey techniques. This finding implies that socioeconomic inequality in electoral participation is a more pressing social problem than previous evidence might indicate.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N