Briefing on voter volatility

The British Election Study (BES), run by Manchester University and Nuffield College, Oxford, has provided the ‘gold standard’ survey of voting patterns and individual choices in the UK’s elections since 1964. In late 2019 the BES team brought di:ga in to help launch new research on voter volatility, with the aim of informing the media’s reporting on the forthcoming general election. The research revealed the current electorate to be the most unpredictable in modern times, and analysed why this was happening.

di:ga advised on strategy, honed the report’s messaging and led on media relations for the launch. The launch event was a great success, attended by lobby journalists from all the major newspapers, broadcasters, specialist press, wires and international outlets. The findings were widely covered immediately around the launch – highlights included the Daily Mirror, Economist, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, New Statesman, POLITICO and Times, and broadcast interviews for BBC Politics Live, Channel 4 News, LBC’s Eddie Mair Show and Radio Four’s PM.

Most importantly, the research demonstrably shaped the media narrative on voting behaviour throughout the election. It was picked up repeatedly by all major UK news outlets during the campaign, as well as overseas.