British Election Study: Cross-Section, 1987

This joint project between investigators at Nuffield College, Oxford, and Social and Community Planning Research was designed to yield a representative sample of eligible voters in Great Britain at the time of the 1987 general election. The aim of this research was to collect data with a view to describing and explaining the outcome of general elections and to analyzing long-term changes in political attitudes and behavior. Key concerns of the investigators related to the magnitude and causes of the erosion of support for the two major parties, the changing relationship between social stratification and electoral behavior, the patterns and sources of short-term voting change, and the divisions of opinion over major political issues and their relationship to the party division of the vote. Of the sample of 6,000 names, 3,826 respondents completed personal interviews and 3,414 returned the self-completed supplement. Variables collected cover a multitude of political topics and behaviors as well as general demographic characteristics such as age and sex.