Keywords: Electoral polls in emerging/incomplete democracies

Race and racial issues pervade the politics of Malaysia, and because of that, racial minorities are much more likely to affirm the ruling coalition to interviewers from the majority ethnic group. We investigate the race-of-the-interviewer (ROI) effects on Malaysians' responses to survey questions on race relations as well as on basic questions of politics, including political party preferences, vote intention, and the prime minister's approval rating. Using original telephone survey data, we find that even though the interviewer's race is not disclosed and the language of the interview is controlled, ethnic Chinese answer political and social questions differently when talking to an interviewer of their own race. We then test for the ROI effect on questions about racial issues in Malaysia, and suggest methods to mitigate these effects in future surveys.