Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

The British Election Study, 2010: Face-to-Face Survey comprises the cross-section surveys conducted before and after the 2010 general election. The four major objectives of the BES 2010 as set out in the ESRC's Specification, and addressed in the project were to: explain the outcome of the General Election; determine why voters choose one party rather than another; understand why some people vote and others do not; and examine the effects of the election on British politics more generally. To meet these objectives, the 2010 BES conducted representative national surveys of the British electorate which included: a two-wave national probability face-to-face panel survey conducted before and after the election campaign. The post-election survey had a 'top-up' sample to correct for sample attrition and Scottish and Welsh booster samples;a large three-wave Campaign Internet Panel Survey (SN 7531), with a baseline pre-campaign survey, a sample of respondents re-contacted each day during the campaign, and all respondents interviewed in a post-election survey; and a Continuous Monitoring Internet Survey (CMS) (SN 7530) of a national cross-section each month for 24 months (July 2008-Dec 2010).For further information see the documentation and the BES 2009-2010 website.

Main Topics:

Topics covered within the pre- and post-election surveys included electoral issues, party identification and support, party positions on taxation and expenditure, voting intentions and behaviour, opinions on party leaders, trust in British institutions, contact with local politicians, attitudes to the European Union, attitudes to war, social trust, beliefs and value, social and political attitudes, and demographic characteristics.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

See documentation for details.

Face-to-face interview

Telephone interview

Self-completion

Internet survey