The use of voter recall in election studies is unreliable, but shouldn’t be abandoned altogether

Pollsters and election researchers routinely make use of voters ‘recall’ of past voting habits, with it often used as a key determinant of how they will vote at subsequent elections. However research shows that voters are often unreliable in accurately recalling how they used their vote. In observing a recent panel study, Ruth Dassoneville and Marc Hooghe argue that this assessment is broadly correct, but that it still has its uses as part of a broader mix of research methods.