Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The British Election Study, 2017: Face-to-Face Post-Election Survey (BES) continues the 2015 BES theme 'Voters in Context' (see SNs 7972 and 8202) and is designed to help our understanding of long-term political change, and the role of national and sub-national variations in the political and social context in shaping citizen' attitudes and behaviour. The survey tackles questions concerning key contemporary questions concerning political representation, accountability and engagement, and aims to help explain changes in party support in 2017. The study also includes an internet panel which follows a separate sample of voters since 2014, and continues forward into the next electoral cycle. The face-to-face survey is an address-based random probability sample of eligible voters living in 468 wards in 234 Parliamentary Constituencies in England, Scotland, and Wales. The face-to-face survey was completed by 2,194 people. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted by GfK between 26 June 2017 and 1 October 2017 and achieved an overall response rate of 46.2%. The face-to-face dataset also includes a self-completion Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) module that was answered by 984 respondents. Full details of the methodology and fieldwork are available in the technical report that accompanies the data release and details of the questionnaire can be found in the codebook. For more information see the British Election Study website. The BES series constitutes the longest academic series of nationally representative probability sample surveys in the country. Its broad aim is to explore the changing determinants of electoral behaviour in contemporary Britain. The surveys have taken place immediately after every general election since 1964. Since the election series was originated in 1963 by David Butler and Donald Stokes under the name of Political Change in Britain, 1963-1970, it has been under the direction of a number of academics over time. Besides the main election surveys, other datasets have also been produced. For example, some studies in previous years have included separate sub-samples for ethnic minorities and areas such as Scotland and Northern Ireland (held under SNs 681, 3171, 3889, 3891, and 4622), and several inter-election panel studies have been undertaken between 1969 and 2001 that follow the same individuals interviewed in the cross-sectional surveys (see SNs 422, 2983, 3888, 4000 4028 and 4620).
Main Topics:
Topics covered in the main study include: issues facing the country; electoral behaviour and attitudes toward voting; party identification, political attitudes (left-right); views on: taxation and government spending, economy/environment, political leaders, immigration, NHS, education; media usage, political engagement and canvassing; economy; democracy, politicians and trust; European Union and EU referendum; image of parties; equal opportunities; likelihood of voting for each party; civil liberties; political participation and constitution; class system; political knowledge and demographics.Topics covered in the CSES module include: political engagement; political system; minorities and British identity; satisfaction with the UK government; left-right placement of parties; fairness of electoral system; political efficacy; closeness to political parties and demographics.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Self-administered questionnaire: E-mail
Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Face-to-face interview
