Gun-shy: Refusal to answer questions about firearm ownership

Gun-shy: Refusal to answer questions about firearm ownership. R. Urbatsch. The Social Science Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2018.04.003

Highlights
•    Americans increasingly decline to answer survey questions about gun ownership.
•    Refusal to answer is not similarly increasing for queries about owning other goods.
•    Republican-leaning respondents’ rate of refusal has risen particularly steeply.

Abstract: In recent years, surveys in the United States have faced increasing refusal to answer questions about firearm ownership, even as other similar questions see no comparable up-tick in item nonresponse. Asymmetrical polarization, elite messaging, and changing media institutions all suggest that the surging nonresponse concerning gun-ownership questions may be increasingly concentrated among those with rightward political and partisan leanings, potentially skewing inferences about gun-related issues. Data from the General Social Survey confirms that the increase in probability of declining to answer firearm-ownership questions is particularly stark among those identifying as Republicans, particularly those with a conservative outlook skeptical of government.

Keywords: Guns; Non-response; Partisanship; United States