News - BES Impact
One of the priorities of the 2015 British Election Study team is to maximize the use and reach of BES data and BES research findings. BES data provides in-depth understanding of the way representative democracy functions in British elections. It provides unique insights into British public opinion, participation, attitudes towards politics and explanations of electoral outcomes. The 2015 BES team is maximizing the usefulness and impact of the BES via:
• An extensive programme of events between 2013 and 2017 in England, Scotland and Wales.
• The release of BES findings for dissemination via national media outlets.
• Expert commentary in national and international media.
• Partnership with the Electoral Commission to study individual electoral registration effects, culminating in a joint report.
• A BES data playground to allow any interested user to access and analyse BES data online (coming soon). We expect this tool to be particularly useful to non-academic researchers in government, political parties, campaigns, charities and think tanks, and to journalists. This will also be of special use to undergraduate and graduate students wishing to explore BES data.
• An Advisory Board with significant expertise in election studies and research into electoral behaviour.
British Election Study Team Awarded First Ever Pippa Norris Prize
Professors Edward Fieldhouse, Jane Green, Geoffrey Evans and Drs Jonathan Mellon and Chris Prosser, supported by Dr Jack Bailey, have been awarded the new Pippa Norris Prize from the Political Studies Association. The prize recognises a research team that has made an outstanding contribution to…
What’s next for British elections?
At a Westminster briefing event held on 20 March in partnership with UK in a Changing Europe (UKiCE), Professors Edward Fieldhouse, Jane Green and Dr Jack Bailey from the British Election Study’s (BES) scientific team shared early findings from the most recent BES data (December…
Announcing the BESt article award winners
The British Election Study are delighted to announce that A tale of two peoples: motivated reasoning in the aftermath of the Brexit Vote by Miriam Sorace and Sara Hobolt (published in Political Science Research & Methods) is the winner of the inaugural British Election Study…
Publications using BES data
British Election Study users have recently published some excellent research, using the unique data to provide insight into a tumultuous period in British politics. Reflecting this, we have updated our list of publications using data from the current BES, which you can find here. We…
Press release: Most volatile British electorate in modern times
Across three elections from 2010-17 almost half UK electorate (49%) didn’t vote for same party; 2015 and 2017 general elections saw highest levels of voter volatility in modern times; “Electoral shocks” like Brexit, 2008 crash and immigration determine vote choice and have greater impacts in…
Youthquake – a reply to our critics
In the wake of the release of the 2017 BES face-to-face data, and our analysis that showed no evidence of a surge in youth turnout at the 2017 election, some commentators have challenged our findings. The key message of our original article (published on…
The myth of the 2017 youthquake election
By Chris Prosser, Ed Fieldhouse, Jane Green, Jonathan Mellon, and Geoff Evans In the wake of the surprise outcome of the 2017 election people began to look for an explanation for Labour’s unexpectedly good performance. One explanation quickly became prominent: Jeremy Corbyn had mobilised previously…
The Brexit election? The 2017 General Election in ten charts
By Ed Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser Despite Theresa May’s claim that her reason for calling an early election was to get a mandate for the Brexit negotiations, Brexit was conspicuous by its absence during the 2017 General Election campaign as both the Conservatives and Labour…
What the 2015 Polling Miss Can Tell us About the Trump Surprise
By Jon Mellon and Chris Prosser Tuesday night saw an eerily familiar feeling setting in as it became increasingly clear that the conventional wisdom driven by public polling had greatly miscalculated Trump’s chances just as it had with the UK Conservative party in 2015 and the…
Are Leave Voters Mainly UKIP? by Jonathan Mellon and Geoffrey Evans
The leave campaign’s surprise win in the EU referendum has led many people to look for explanations for its success and how it managed to perform so much better than UKIP, the party that pushed hardest for Brexit. At first glance, it may seem obvious…