Survey of election agents for study of constituency campaigning at the 2017 British general election

Fisher, Justin and Cutts , David and Fieldhouse, Edward (2019). Survey of election agents for study of constituency campaigning at the 2017 British general election. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-853303

Constituency level campaigning has become crucial to the electoral strategies of all the major parties in Britain, and a significant academic literature has emerged (Denver and Hands, 1992,1993,1996,1997a,1997b,1998; Denver et al, 2002a, 2002b, 2003; Fisher et al, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2009, 2011a, 2011b, 2014a, 2014b; 2016; 2017; Fieldhouse and Cutts, 2009). This work has revealed how campaigns have changed over time; how parties have responded to wider changes in society, the electorate, and within their own parties; the degree to which parties are able to harness their resources effectively to fight elections; how voters respond to cues from the parties, and the extent to which voters can be mobilized. The analysis of the constituency campaign is an integral part of studying elections by the electoral studies community, external stakeholders and the ESRC (Williams, 2007). The ESRC has funded this unique study, which the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, at each general election since 1992 (with the exception of 2005, which was funded at a much lower level by the Electoral Commission). There is therefore a unique and valuable time series which furthers our understanding of the impact, role, and nature of campaigns in the modern political arena. The proposed study will continue this valuable work as well as delivering significant added value.

Data description (abstract)

This data collection consists of a survey of elections agents from the Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru (PC) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) conducted immediately after the British general election of 2017. The survey covers details of the preparations for the campaign, organisation and strategy, and campaign and polling day activities. In addition, it covers an evaluation of the administration of the campaign. Surveys were sent to all agents and the dataset comprises responses from 180 Conservative Agents; 333 Labour Agents; 314 Liberal Democrat Agents; 23 SNP Agents; 28 Plaid Cymru Agents; and 114 UKIP Agents.

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