Un-Priming Politics: A Method to Reduce Overreporting of Political Engagement

Abstract Survey researchers frequently employ measures of political engagement, yet social desirability pressures can lead to overreporting. Building upon existing literature, we adopt an iterative approach to determine how such overreporting can be reduced. Four preregistered survey experiments were conducted (total N=7,122). We first confirm that social desirability considerations can underlie some types of self-reported political engagement. Second, having tested a variety of interventions that were designed to reduce overreporting, we find that our most effective treatment ( Dampen Politics) was one that aimed to decrease the salience of politics. This treatment significantly reduced (1) the degree to which respondents perceived the survey as political, and (2) some types of self-reported political engagement, particularly political interest and voting. We tested alternative implementations of the Dampen Politics treatment, each time assessing its robustness and validity. Our findings suggest a simple adjustment in survey wording and organization can meaningfully decrease overreporting of political engagement.