Reducing Undecided Voters and Other Sources of Error in Election Surveys

Malcolm S McLeod, Laura T Flannelly and Kevin J Flannelly

The present study found the number of undecided voters on forced-choice questions about candidate preferences was roughly three times higher than that on subjective probability questions, and that election predictions based on traditional forced-choice scales had a higher degree of error than predictions based on subjective probability scales.
  

Reducing Undecided Voters and Other Sources of Error in Election Surveys

Kevin J. FlannellyMarketing Research Institute, Honolulu, HawaiiLaura T. FlannellyUniversity of Hawaii, Honolulu, HawaiiMalcolm S. McLeod, Jr.Center for Psychosocial Research, Honolulu, Hawaii

The present study found the number of undecided voters on forcedchoice questions about candidate preferences was roughly three times higher than that on subjective probability questions, and that election predictions based on traditional forcedchoice scales had a higher degree of error than predictions based on subjective probability scales. The findings show that subjective probability scales can introduce error when there are...

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