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.
Was Blair right: are Labour really too left-wing to win in May?...
Whilst many of us were thinking about how to celebrate the New Year, Ed Miliband might have been forgiven for eschewing the Champagne and going for something a little stronger. Although former PM Tony Blair’s popularity amongst the British public is hardly meteoric, and his…
Voter Trends in 2014 and lessons for the 2015 General Election
By Steven Ayres, Researcher, House of Commons Library Since 1964, the British Election Study (BES) has been surveying voters at each General Election in an attempt to establish who votes for who and why. The study has evolved over time, yet the central focus on…
Trading places? Left-right placement in Scotland. By Professor Phil Cowley
‘But what about the SNP?’ That’s what I’ve been asked most, after writing a blog on the way the public see the ideological positions of the parties. With ‘normal’ opinion polls it’s difficult to do sensible inter-country comparisons– because the number of respondents outside of…
BES news round up
This year, academic colleagues from around the country have been using British Election Study data to inform public opinion – and in the process have been hitting the news headlines. Professors Jane Green, Geoff Evans, Ed Fieldhouse and Cees Van Der Eijk of the BES…
Left, right and centre. By Professor Phil Cowley
A ComRes poll reported in this weekend’s Independent on Sunday got considerable coverage – as a result of discovering that voters saw UKIP as to the left of the Conservatives. This morning, however, a YouGov poll for the Times (£) finds people placing UKIP to…
Are we influenced by how our friends vote?
Political scientists have known for a long time that talking politics to family and friends makes a difference to how people vote. Bob Huckfeldt of University of California Davis pioneered the use of data on the political discussion networks of electors, and showed how voters…
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…
Studying politics? Come play in the Data Playground
The British Election Study has now made its data collected in 2014 available to anyone who wants to know what the nation thinks about politics. Called the Data Playground, the politically interested can now get their hands on BES data, for free, without the need for specialist…
An electoral system fit for purpose?
The British Election Study is lucky enough to have a board of eminent experts in the world of politics who advise on how our data can reach a broad range of users outside academia. The group, whose members span the three main British political parties…
All Roads lead to UKIP? By Geoff Evans and Jon Mellon (University...
Do the Conservatives or Labour need to worry most about UKIP in 2015? Certainly, Labour constituencies see fairly high levels of UKIP support (notably at the recent Heywood & Middleton by-election), suggesting there is credence to the argument that Labour is losing its disaffected traditional…