News
Conservative Assets and Liabilities
By Jane Green and Will Jennings This blog is based on analysis prepared for the Political Studies Association media briefing held on 24 March 2015. It considers the strengths and weaknesses of the Conservative party entering the general election campaign to reflect upon what may…
Financial Literacy and Attitudes Towards Immigration
By Dr George Panos and Prof Robert E. Wright. Financial literacy is the ability to use knowledge and skills to effectively manage financial resources at a personal-level. It is more than numeracy—“being good with numbers”—although numeracy is important in its own right. It includes for…
Subjective v objective changes in personal finances
By Dr Chris Hanretty Like most elections, this election will be fought on the basis of the economy. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will argue that the economy is growing. Labour will argue that living standards are stagnant or declining. As a result, many…
Britain’s Green wave by Paul Webb
The Green party may not emerge from the general election with more representation in parliament but it is on course to win its highest-ever vote – and it will be Labour and the Liberal Democrats who feel its impact the most. This article was originally…
Lessons for the UK in electoral integrity. By Pippa Norris
By Pippa Norris: Harvard University and the University of Sydney Issues about the integrity of UK elections have become a major concern in the run-up to the general election. In recent contests, questions have arisen over insecure postal ballots, proxy voting, and fraudulent practices. The…
Labour need to tempt not terrify the voters they have lost to...
By Dr Steve Fisher Abstract: This post summarises the main points from the national and constituency polls in Scotland before discussing what might help Labour north of the border. The British Election Study survey evidence suggests that Scottish Labour MPs will not be saved by…
Following the pink battle bus: where are the women voters in 2015?...
On 11th February Harriet Harman launched the Labour party’s magenta battle bus intended to reach out to women voters. The bus generated a fair amount of publicity and was explained on the basis that women have been less likely to vote in previous elections. Women…
The impact of party leader images on vote switching in the run-up...
By Professor Geoffrey Evans and Dr Jon Mellon Never a day seems to go by without party leaders featuring in the media as heroes, villains, or klutzes. The emphasis of these reports often depends on the political leanings of the media involved, at least with…
Contact matters: voters like to be asked personally for their support
Ed Miliband has announced that to counter the Conservative party’s financial advantage during the 2015 election campaign Labour will outnumber them in supporters out on the streets engaging with voters – and will benefit accordingly. Is that a sensible strategy? David Cutts, Ed Fieldhouse (BES…
BES data updates
The BES team is releasing updated versions of the panel (v1.2), wave 1 (v3.4), wave 2 (v2.4) and wave 3 (v1.2) datasets. This is a minor update that makes a number of small improvements and fixes some errors. The updated datasets are replacing the previous…