Title: Six take-aways from the Census Bureau’s voting report | Pew Research Center
Headings: Six take-aways from the Census Bureau’s voting report
Six take-aways from the Census Bureau’s voting report
Content: According to the Census Bureau’s 2012 Current Population Survey November Supplement on Voting and Registration, an estimated 133 million U.S. citizens voted in 2012. That estimate is higher—by 4 million votes—than the national tally of 129 million votes cast for president. The gap in reported votes and the actual vote tally is the widest since 2000 (when the gap was 5.4 million votes) and marks the first widening of the gap since 1984. The Census Bureau’s November supplement to the CPS is the most comprehensive data source available for examining the demographic composition of the electorate in federal elections, but it relies on a post-election self-reporting by survey respondents. Because of what is sometimes described as “social desirability bias” some survey respondents may say they voted when in fact they did not. Topic
Election 2012
Paul Taylor is the author of The Next America and the former executive vice president of Pew Research Center. POSTS BIO EMAIL
Mark Hugo Lopez is director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center. POSTS BIO TWITTER EMAIL