Full Source: Current Population Survey: Voter Supplement File, November 2000
[Computer file]. ICPSR release. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census [producer], 2001. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university
Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2004.
Respondents selected from a list of categories read by the interviewer
as follows:
(1) Illness or disability (own or family's)
(2) Out of town or away from home
(3) Forgot to vote (or send in absentee ballot)
(4) Not interested, felt my vote wouldn't make a difference
(5) Too busy, conflicting work or school schedule
(6) Transportation problems
(7) Didn't like candidates or campaign issues
(8) Registration problems (i.e. didn't receive absentee ballot, not
registered in current location)
(9) Bad weather conditions
(10) Inconvenient polling place or hours or lines too long
(11) Other
Full Footnote: Turnout is measured as the percentage of respondents who reported
voting who also reported that they were U.S. citizens at least eighteen
years of age divided by all valid respondents combined with those with
no response. Respondents were asked: "In any election, some people are
not able to vote because they are sick or busy or have some other
reason, and others do not want to vote. Did (you/name) vote in the
election held on Tuesday, November 7?" Nonvoters are all those who did
not answer 'Yes.'
Survey-based measures typically over report actual turnout compared with
more objective measures. The Federal Election Commission (FEC), for
example, measures turnout as total votes cast divided by the Census
Bureau's estimates of the voting age population. For the 2000
presidential election the FEC reported nationwide nonvoting of 48.7% and
Texas nonvoting of 56.8%. These figures are, respectively, 8.2% and
10.9% higher than the Current Population Survey estimates in the table.
Surveys underreport nonvoting for various reasons. For example,
nonvoters tend to be harder to find and less likely to respond.
Pre-election surveys may have a mobilizing effect, i.e., more
respondents will vote or say they plan to vote because having been
selected to respond encouraged their participation. Moreover,
misreports favor voting over nonvoting since some respondents want to
please or impress the interviewer with socially desirable responses.