Article(print)1986

The Presence of Others and Overreporting of Voting in American National Elections

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Volume 50, Issue 2, p. 228-239

Silver, Brian D; Abramson, Paul R; Anderson, Barbara A

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Abstract

Data from the 1978 & 1980 vote validation studies conducted by the U of Michigan Survey Research Center are used to test the extent to which false claims about voting are affected by the presence of third parties during the interview, a situation that is far more frequent than commonly assumed. The tendency of Rs to give socially approved answers appears not to be affected by the presence of others; thus, additional efforts to avoid contamination by eliminating third parties are not likely to reduce the exaggeration of self-reported vote. The findings suggest that declared intention to vote is a far more important factor in whether people falsely report voting than is the presence of others. Additional efforts to understand the motivational basis of voting & nonvoting could shed light on variation in voting overreports. 4 Tables, 23 References. Modified HA

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