Constituency Campaigning in the 2010 General Election

Over the last decade, there has been a renewal of interest in, and revaluation of, the effects of local constituency campaigning on the part of both academics and political parties. From the 1950s to the 1980s, as campaigning became more 'nationalised' - dominated by party leaders and focused almost exclusively on the national mass media - local constituency campaigns came to be seen as rather meaningless side-shows. During the 1980s, however, a significant 'revisionist' literature appeared, suggesting that effective and intense constituency campaigning could have a significant impact in terms of improved electoral performance by the parties and, partly as a consequence of this, the parties themselves have recently placed much more emphasis on local campaigning.<br>
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Five studies have been conducted in this series so far, of which four are currently available from the UK Data Archive. These cover the 1992 election (held under SN 3587), the 1997 election (SN 3922), 2001 election (SN 4508) and the 2010 election (SN 6830). A study was conducted in 2005, but the Archive does not hold the 2005 data.<br>
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This study, the fourth in the series, builds upon previous campaign studies and examines constituency campaigning at the 2010 British General Election. It provides not only a continuation of a valuable time series, but also a programme of innovation that furthers our understanding of the role, impact and nature of campaigns in the modern political arena. <br>
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The study is designed to provide an empirically based account of the style and intensity of constituency campaigning in the election; investigate the role of the parties' central organisations in planning and managing constituency campaigns; analyse the extent to which constituency campaigns involve party members as well as party supporters; and investigate the electoral effects of constituency campaigning in a new electoral context. <br>
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The core of the study is a large questionnaire survey of the election agents of the three major parties and two national parties in all constituencies in Britain save that of the Speaker. The survey includes key questions from previous studies as well as new questions reflecting both changes in campaigning (such as the development of e-campaigning) and innovations in the study such as the measurement of party supporter activity and further measures on long-term campaigning.<br>
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Further information can be found on the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-2762/read" title="Constituency Campaigning in the 2008/9/10 General Election">Constituency Campaigning in the 2008/9/10 General Election</a> ESRC Award web page.<br>