Self-Reported versus Proxy-Reported Voter Turnout in the Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey (CPS) Voter Supplement is a premiersource of data on turnout in the United States. A little-knownaspect of the survey is that for a sizable proportion of people,turnout is measured by proxy—one member of a householdreports for another member—rather than self-reports ofhaving voted. The purpose of this research note is to investigatehow the use of proxy-reported turnout affects conclusions aboutthe determinants of turnout in America. The results suggesta generally optimistic assessment. Although proxy-reported turnoutis about 4 percentage points lower than self-reported turnout,the individual-level correlates of turnout and interstate turnoutdifferences are mostly similar for the two measures.