News - BES Findings

The Benefits of Random Probability Sampling: The 2015 BES Face-to-Face
This post reveals the BES 2015 reported vote figures for the face-to-face survey and discusses them in the context of representativeness achieved via random probability sampling and efforts to interview hard-to-reach respondents. The face-to-face survey is an address-based random probability sample of eligible voters living in 600 wards…

Why the polls got it wrong and the British Election Study face-to-face...
The release of the British Election Study post-election face-to-face survey allows us to revisit the question of why the polls went wrong before the 2015 General Election. Based on our internet panel, we previously examined five possible explanations for why the polls went wrong and…

British Election Study 2015 Face-to-face survey v1.0: Release note
This note accompanies the release of the British Election Study face to face survey (version 1.0). Dataset and documentation The dataset and additional documentation are available to download here. Citation Fieldhouse, E., J. Green., G. Evans., H. Schmitt, C. van der Eijk, J. Mellon and…

Learning the right lessons from Labour’s 2015 defeat
Published first by the IPPR in Juncture, and reported by Ross Hawkins on BBC online. Jane Green and Chris Prosser pick apart the factors that underpinned Labour’s disappointing election performance, including the ability of the Conservative and Labour parties to win votes from other parties…

Insights into #GE2015: Presentation by Professor Ed Fieldhouse
This week BES Co-Director Professor Ed Fieldhouse spoke to an ESRC sponsored ‘Chalk and Talk’ event at the Social Market Foundation, London, in which he explored the decline of our two party system. Electoral theory expects proportional systems to enhance smaller party voting and majoritarian electoral…

BLOG UPDATE: is Labour really too left-wing to win an election?
Few could have anticipated the surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn, who after getting on to the Labour leadership ballot by the skin of his teeth has become remarkably popular among his party’s grassroots . Most Labour people have something to say on the Corbyn…

The 2015 General Election: Religious Affiliation and Party Vote Share Across Constituencies
By Dr Ben Clements, University of Leicester (reposted with kind permission from British Religion In Numbers) As the weekend round-up of religious news on BRIN flagged up, the British Election Study (BES) 2015 has released the first version of the 2015 general election results dataset….

Seminar: who won the UK General Election, how and why?
Click below to see recorded coverage on BBC Parliament of a Nuffield College Oxford and British Election Study seminar, featuring BES Co-Directors Prof Jane Green and Prof Geoff Evans along with Peter Kellner, President of YouGov. BBC Parliament Channel

Three common errors in interpreting voters’ choices
By the BES FactCheck Team Cees van der Eijk (BES and Nottingham) ,Stuart Fox (Nottingham), Mike Addelman (BES and Manchester) Annemarie Walter (Nottingham), Jonathan Rose (Nottingham), Fanni Toth (Nottingham), Fiona Williams (Nottingham), Katia Kolpinskaya (Nottingham), Josh Townsley (Nottingham), Tom Loughran (Manchester) During election night, we…

ITV’s Election analysis by Prof Jane Green
The British Election Study is working with ITV to bring in-depth analysis and understanding of the most unpredictable election in living memory. The British Election Study has provided an unparalleled source of election data and analysis since it began in 1964. ITV are releasing our…