Do Absentee Voters Differ from Polling Place Voters?

Authors: Barreto, Matt A.; Streb, Matthew J.; Marks, Mara; Guerra, Fernando

Source: Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 70, Number 2, 2006 , pp. 224-234(11)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $42.29 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

In the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election 2,775,785 absentee ballots were cast, representing about 30 percent of all voters statewide. Given the number of absentee ballots and the increasing propensity for voters in California and elsewhere to choose this voting method, we some basic questions: Who are absentee voters, and are they different from polling place voters? To answer these questions, we fielded a statewide survey of absentee voters in the days before the October 7 recall election, asking respondents why they voted absentee, their partisan and ideological preferences, demographic characteristics, and other relevant questions. We find that absentee voters do not differ significantly from the overall state electorate in terms of their vote preferences, despite being older and better educated. For example, 56 percent of absentee voters in our survey voted “yes” on the recall, compared with 55 percent for the entire state, according to official returns. Further, absentee voters favored Arnold Schwarzenegger over Cruz Bustamante by a considerable margin, similar to the overall election results. We found party registration among absentee voters to be nearly identical to statewide partisan registration.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfj017

Publication date: 2006-01-01

More about this publication?

Published since 1937, Public Opinion Quarterly is among the most frequently cited journals of its kind. Such interdisciplinary leadership benefits academicians and all social science researchers by providing a trusted source for a wide range of high quality research. POQ selectively publishes important theoretical contributions to opinion and communication research, analyses of current public opinion, and investigations of methodological issues involved in survey validity - including questionnaire construction, interviewing and interviewers, sampling strategy, and mode of administration. The theoretical and methodological advances detailed in pages of POQ ensure its importance as a research resource.

Do Absentee Voters Differ from Polling Place Voters?

Buy & download fulltext article:

Tools

Key

Text size:

Useful pages