The Importance of Persistence in Respondent Selection for Preelection Surveys

Different techniques for respondent selection can affect data quality. These differences can result in variations in the distribution of partisans in preelection surveys, which in turn can have an effect on the distribution of candidate preference. Persistence in trying to interview designated respondents in telephone households increased the number of Republicans in a 1984 sample, and therefore Reagan's margin over Mondale. Such differences in interviewing techniques might account for some of the variations in national preelection estimates of the outcome of the presidential election, and they suggest that caution be used in comparing marginals for party identification from different surveys employing different respondent selection techniques.