Studies in the Measurement of Voter Turnout

Studies in the Measurement of Voter Turnout

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13:

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This publication includes three papers which explain different aspects of measuring voter behavior. The studies indicate that there is a socioeconomic component to overestimating voter turnout, as well as survey design and weighting effects.


Voter Turnout Overreports

Voter Turnout Overreports

Author: Ivelisse Cuevas-Molina

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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American politics scholarship has in great measure dedicated itself to the study of democratic participation in elections. Texts that are considered the cannon on electoral participation have extended our knowledge of the factors that increase/decrease turnout, however, this work has relied on self-reports of turnout in surveys. The use of selfreported turnout is problematic because a non-trivial proportion of survey respondents say they went out to vote when they actually did not, meaning they overreport turnout. Overreports of voter turnout are false reports of participation in elections by nonvoters when responding to political surveys. Appropriately, scholars of voting behavior have dedicated a great deal of research to the study of this phenomenon by conducting vote validation studies. This work has engendered important questions about the study of overreporting and how it affects the study of voter turnout. There are four major questions in the literature which I address throughout the dissertation: 1) How accurate is vote validation?, 2) Do overreports bias statistical models of turnout?, 3) What is the correct way to measure and model overreporting?, and 4) What is the cognitive mechanism through which overreports occur? The first chapter describes the phenomenon of voter turnout overreports in surveys and how they affect estimations of turnout in political polling, and derives a social desirability theory of overreporting from the vote validation literature. Chapter 2 presents analysis of the persistence and prevalence of overreporting in the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of 2008 2010, 2012, and 2014. Also, a comprehensive look at the demographic, social and political characteristics of voters, nonvoters and overreporters using data from the 2014 and 2012 CCES. Chapter 3 constitutes the first original contribution to the study of overreporting by proposing a new way of modeling the likelihood of overreporting through multinomial logistic regression analysis. Most Importantly, in Chapter 4, I test the social desirability theory of overreporting, namely analysis of response latency data from the 2014 and 2012 CCES studies. Finally, the conclusion of this dissertation summarizes the main findings of previous chapters and presents analysis of the bias induced by overreports in statistical models of turnout.


Unequal Political Participation Worldwide

Unequal Political Participation Worldwide

Author: Aina Gallego

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 110702353X

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This book describes the levels of unequal electoral participation in thirty-six countries worldwide, examines possible causes of this phenomenon, and discusses its consequences.


The American Voter Revisited

The American Voter Revisited

Author: Michael S. Lewis-Beck

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2009-12-18

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 0472025139

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Today we are politically polarized as never before. The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 will be remembered as two of the most contentious political events in American history. Yet despite the recent election upheaval, The American Voter Revisited discovers that voter behavior has been remarkably consistent over the last half century. And if the authors are correct in their predictions, 2008 will show just how reliably the American voter weighs in, election after election. The American Voter Revisited re-creates the outstanding 1960 classic The American Voter---which was based on the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956---following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original. In this new volume, the authors test the ideas and methods of the original against presidential election surveys from 2000 and 2004. Surprisingly, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically much like voters of the 1950s. "Simply essential. For generations, serious students of American politics have kept The American Voter right on their desk. Now, everyone will keep The American Voter Revisited right next to it." ---Larry J. Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of A More Perfect Constitution "The American Voter Revisited is destined to be the definitive volume on American electoral behavior for decades. It is a timely book for 2008, with in-depth analyses of the 2000 and 2004 elections updating and extending the findings of the original The American Voter. It is also quite accessible, making it ideal for graduate students as well as advanced undergrads." ---Andrew E. Smith, Director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center "A theoretically faithful, empirically innovative, comprehensive update of the original classic." ---Sam Popkin, Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego Michael S. Lewis-Beck is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. William G. Jacoby is Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. Helmut Norpoth is Professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University. Herbert F. Weisberg is Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University.


Changing and Unchanging Face of U.S. Civil Society

Changing and Unchanging Face of U.S. Civil Society

Author: Marcella Ridlen Ray

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-02

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1351529501

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"Ray has written a book that should be read by anyone interested in the current debates about the general health of civil society in the United States.--American Journal of Sociology The formation, maintenance, and well being of American civil society is a topic of intense debate in the social sciences. Until now, this debate has lacked rigor, with the term ""civil society"" commonly used interchangeably and imprecisely with other terms such as civic engagement. Today's discourse also lacks methodological discipline and relies too heavily on narrowly selected evidence in support of a particular argument. In this invaluable contribution to the debate, Marcella Ridlen Ray supplies an empirical study based on a theoretical model of democratic civil society, one that posits high levels of communication, diversity, autonomy, mediation, and voluntary association. In Ray's account, the emergent story of U.S. civil society is that of a dynamic institution, not necessarily one that is linear in its progression. It is a tale of flux, resilience, and stability over the long term that is consistent with subtexts on political equilibrium she notes in the work of early political analysts such as Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Burke, and, later, Tocqueville. Ray dispels the widely accepted myth that Americans are increasingly apathetic and withdrawn from common interests. The evidence reveals a persistence of long-standing public spiritedness, despite the fact that individuals use wider discretion in deciding if and how to attach to community and despite a historical lack of enthusiasm for performing civic duties in lieu of more pleasurable leisure activity. This public-spiritedness continues to reflect embedded religious-cultural values that disproportionately influence how and when people dedicate time and money to associational life. U. S. civil society has grown more inclusive and democratic as Americans venture, at growing rates, across differences in perspective, "


Get Out the Vote

Get Out the Vote

Author: Donald P. Green

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2008-09-01

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 081573266X

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The first edition of Get Out the Vote! broke ground by introducing a new scientific approach to the challenge of voter mobilization and profoundly influenced how campaigns operate. In this expanded and updated edition, the authors incorporate data from more than one hundred new studies, which shed new light on the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of various campaign tactics, including door-to-door canvassing, e-mail, direct mail, and telephone calls. Two new chapters focus on the effectiveness of mass media campaigns and events such as candidate forums and Election Day festivals. Available in time for the core of the 2008 presidential campaign, this practical guide on voter mobilization is sure to be an important resource for consultants, candidates, and grassroots organizations. Praise for the first edition: "Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in a slim and readable new book called Get Out the Vote!, which is bound to become a bible for politicians and activists of all stripes." —Alan B. Kreuger, in the New York Times "Get Out the Vote! shatters conventional wisdom about GOTV." —Hal Malchow in Campaigns & Elections "Green and Gerber's recent book represents important innovations in the study of turnout."—Political Science Review "Green and Gerber have provided a valuable resource for grassroots campaigns across the spectrum."—National Journal


Voter Turnout

Voter Turnout

Author: Meredith Rolfe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-02-13

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 110737913X

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This book develops and empirically tests a social theory of political participation. It overturns prior understandings of why some people (such as college-degree holders, churchgoers and citizens in national rather than local elections) vote more often than others. The book shows that the standard demographic variables are not proxies for variation in the individual costs and benefits of participation, but for systematic variation in the patterns of social ties between potential voters. Potential voters who move in larger social circles, particularly those including politicians and other mobilizing actors, have more access to the flurry of electoral activity prodding citizens to vote and increasing political discussion. Treating voting as a socially defined practice instead of as an individual choice over personal payoffs, a social theory of participation is derived from a mathematical model with behavioral foundations that is empirically calibrated and tested using multiple methods and data sources.