The British Election Study (BES) is one of the longest running election studies world-wide and the longest running social science survey in the UK.
The BES has made a major contribution to the understanding of political attitudes and behaviour for sixty years.
The first study, conducted by David Butler and Donald Stokes in 1964, transformed the study of electoral behaviour in the UK. Since then, BES surveys have taken place immediately after every general election, providing data to help researchers understand changing patterns of party support and election outcomes. They also take place between elections, with 26 (by May 2024) large 30,000 person online panel surveys conducted by the present team, since 2014.
The British Election Study is a non-partisan, objective independent study providing world-class data and research into British general elections.
‘As custodians of the British Election Study, we are committed to providing expertise which advances understanding of the British electorate to any interested party, as part of our broad commitment to public engagement and impact.’
The BES team works with an Advisory Board, which has significant expertise in election studies and research into electoral behaviour.
Visit the BES Impact page to learn more about our work.