Gender Gaps in Electoral Turnout: Surveys versus Administrative Censuses
| DOI | 10.1177/14789299211019562 |
| Published date | 01 May 2022 |
| Date | 01 May 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Early Results |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211019562
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(2) 304 –313
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299211019562
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Gender Gaps in Electoral
Turnout: Surveys versus
Administrative Censuses
Paulo Cox1 and Mauricio Morales
Quiroga2
Abstract
Gender gaps in voter turnout are usually studied using opinion surveys rather than official census
data. This is because administrative censuses usually do not disaggregate turnout according to
voters’ sex. Without this official information, much of the research on gender gaps in electoral
turnout relies on survey respondents’ self-reported behavior, either before or after an election.
The decision to use survey data implies facing several potential drawbacks. Among them are the
turnout overstatement bias and the attrition or nonresponse bias, both affecting the estimation
of factors explaining turnout and any related statistical analysis. Furthermore, these biases may be
correlated with covariates such as gender: men, more than women, may systematically overstate
their electoral participation. We analyze turnout gender gaps in Chile, comparing national surveys
with official administrative data, which in Chile are publicly available. Crucially, the latter includes
the official record of sex, age, and the electoral behavior—whether the individual voted or not—
for about 14 million registered individuals. Based on a series of statistical models, we find that
analysis based on survey data is likely to rule out gender gaps in electoral participation. Carrying
out the same exercises, but with official data, leads to the opposite conclusion, namely, that there
is a sizable gender gap favoring women.
Keywords
electoral turnout, gender gap, surveys, administrative census
Accepted: 4 May 2021
Introduction
The “gender gap” in electoral turnout has been widely discussed by Verba et al. (1978),
Lehman Schlozman et al. (1995), Verba et al. (1997), Norris (2002), Desposato and
Norrander (2009), among others. In general, these authors find women’s electoral turnout
to be lower than men’s, a situation that responds to their low levels of “political
1Faculty of Economics and Business Universidad de Talca, Campus Santiago, Chile
2School of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Juridical Sciences, Universidad de
Talca, Chile
Corresponding author:
Mauricio Morales Quirogo, School of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Social and
Juridical Sciences, Universidad de Talca, Talco, 8940583, Chile.
Email: mmoralesq@utalca.cl
1019562PSW0010.1177/14789299211019562Political Studies ReviewMorales and Cox
research-article2021
Early Results
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