Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

 

David Butler and Donald Stokes founded the British Election Study (BES) in 1964. They did so with the aim of understanding political change in Britain. Their project transformed the study of electoral behaviour. Indeed, it was so successful that a version of the BES has run after every general election ever since.

Almost six decades later, the BES is now one of the world’s longest-running social surveys. After every general election, the BES surveys a representative sample of the British electorate. It asks them what they believe, what they think about parties and politicians, and how they voted. The BES team then makes these world-class data available for free, as part of its commitment to public engagement and impact.

The British electorate has become more volatile in recent decades. This volatile environment has allowed recent political shocks and events to bring about a period of rapid and dramatic political change. In 2015 we witnessed fragmentation of party support with the collapse of the Liberal Democrats and the rise of smaller and newer parties such as UKIP, the Greens, and the SNP. In 2017, following the Brexit vote, this was reversed, with a surge in support for the Conservatives and Labour, with many voters choosing on the basis of their attitudes towards Europe and immigration. Whatever form Brexit eventually takes, it will have huge electoral consequences and the next five years are likely to see further shifts in the electoral landscape. The 2019 British Election Study Post-Election Random Probability Survey is designed to provide a deep and theoretically informed understanding of those changes -- both for academic and non-academic beneficiaries.

Main Topics:

British politics; elections; political behaviour and attitudes