British Election Study, 2014-2026: Combined Internet Panel

 
<p>The <span style="font-style: italic;">British Election Study </span>(BES) is one of the longest-running election studies in the world, having taken place at every general election since 1964. The BES explores why people choose to vote (or not) and why they support one party rather than another, as well as wider questions about democracy and political participation. The BES has included panel studies in a relatively small number of recent periods. These panel studies follow the same survey respondents over time in panel study 'waves' of data. Each wave can also be used as a cross-section and datasets include filter variables to find out which respondents are interviewed in all waves, some waves, or just one wave. Panel studies are particularly useful for studying within-person change and the evolution of political preferences and electoral behaviours. For more information see the<a href="http://www.britishelectionstudy.com/"> British Election Study</a> website.<br>
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The <em>British Election Study, 2014-2026: Combined Internet Panel</em> contains data from Waves 1-30 of the 2015 and 2019 BES, starting in February 2014 and going through to May 2025. The data includes waves that cover the 2015 General Election, the 2016 EU referendum, the 2017 General Election, the 2019 General Election, and the 2024 General Election. Full details of the methodology and fieldwork are available in the technical report/codebook that accompanies the data release. The data includes boosted samples for Scotland and Wales. There are approximately 30,000 respondents in each wave. Further information about the panel data is available on the
<a href="https://www.britishelectionstudy.com/data-objects/panel-study-data/">BES Panel study data</a> webpage.</p>
<p>This Safeguarded version of the dataset contains all of the usual variables made available in the public access version, plus Middle Super-Output Area classifiers and SOC2010 occupation codes for each respondent.</p>
<p><span>Latest edition information</span><br>
For the fourth edition (January 2026) data and documentation for waves 1-30 have been added to the study. The additional waves cover the 2024 UK General Election and the 2025 local elections.</p>