News - Consultations
The BES and Scottish politics 2019-2023: recent analysis and consultation
On Friday 13 September the BES will hold an overview and consultation session regarding recent BES data related to Scottish politics. The session will take place in Glasgow on 13 September from 10:00-12:00. During the session the BES team will present new analysis on questions…
Request for feedback on suggestions for Wave 15 of the BES panel
As part of a recent BES extension provided by the ESRC, which runs to end March 2019, the BES is able to field an additional wave, which we’ll be doing soon as a pre-Brexit wave (or during, depending on fieldwork and political events). This will…
British Election Study Film: Understanding British Democracy
The British Election Study team are pleased to announce the release of their film ‘The British Election Study: Understanding British Democracy’. The film was launched during a British Election Study event for journalists, politicians and researchers entitled ‘Insights into the 2015 General Election’, held at…
BES September 2014 Annual Report
On Saturday 13th September Professor Ed Fieldhouse gave an overview of the activities and achievements of the British Election Study during its first year, addressing the British Election Study report meeting at the recent Elections, Public Opinion and Parties annual conference in Edinburgh (audience pictured…
Plus ça change? The ebb and flow of Scottish referendum voting intention
Apart from the day-to-day fluctuations and differences between pollsters, the opinion polls on the Scottish Referendum voting intention have been fairly stable over the last few months, with ‘Better Together’ leading with around 45%-50% of the vote, ‘Yes Scotland’ in the mid-thirties, and the remainder…
The British Election Study & the Scottish Constitutional Debate (by Professor Charlie...
It is striking how insular Scotland’s constitutional debate is. Both sides in the debate see Scotland’s constitutional future in different ways as bound up firmly in relationships with the rest of the UK. The Yes side envisages a form of independence which involves continuing partnership…
Settled wills? The psychology behind stable referendum polls (by Dr Rob Johns,...
In a marathon campaign like the one for votes in the Independence referendum on the 18th September, a good deal of the excitement is generated by ups and downs in the opinion polls. For those seeking to maintain interest, then, it is fortunate that the…
Guest Blog by Matthew Goodwin and Caitlin Milazzo: Who will stay loyal...
At the 2014 European Parliament elections the UK Independence Party (UKIP) fulfilled its promise to deliver an electoral earthquake. UKIP finished in first place, with 4.3 million votes and 27.5% of the vote. Since the election, attention has quickly turned to the 2015 general election,…
Professor Hermann Schmitt gives election keynote address in Iceland
Similar to Britain, Iceland has conducted an uninterrupted series of National Election Studies (ICENES) since 1984. The ICENES is an extensive study of the electoral and political behaviour of voters in Iceland. To mark the 30th anniversary of the ICENES a symposium was held at…
British Election Study plans presented at London School of Economics
Professor Jane Green presented plans of the new 2015 British Election Study in a seminar held by British Government@LSE, on 11 September 2013. The seminar was organised by Professor Tony Travers and Professor Simon Hix. Jane’s slides can be downloaded here: LSE slides