Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties (EPOP) research group

Description

The Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties (EPOP) research group is composed of both postgrad students and faculty and conducts cutting-edge research on political behaviour (e.g., voter turnout, vote choice, informal participation), public opinion (polling industry, measuring citizens' satisfaction with democracy, citizens’ values) and how they interact with party politics. Members also examine broader democratic institutions like electoral systems as well as measurements of a democracy's quality.

The group covers a diverse range of regions around the world. Many members make use of a comparative approach and include in their studies countries from all continents. Members also have a great deal of scholars specializing in British and European politics. Key Research Themes are:

Political behaviour

• Formal and informal forms of political participation.
• What makes people vote or abstain in elections? Is voting a habit?
• What is the role of political protest in relation to democratic citizenship?
• Who engages in demonstrations and boycotts?
• Citizens’ vote choice calculus.
• How can differences in populist parties’ agendas around the world be explained?
• How can generational cleavages and vote choices for anti-system parties be mapped?
• How can party pledges fulfilment and electoral support be measured?

Public opinion

• Citizens' values: authoritarianism, attitudes toward immigration, left-right cleavages.
• Regulation of the polling industry.
• Citizens' satisfaction with democracy.

Political parties

• Mainstream, regionalist, populist and radical parties.
• Party strategy and campaigning styles.
• The impact of institutions such as the electoral system on political parties.

EPOP meets monthly to discuss its members' work in progress, as well as work by invited speakers. It also organises specific workshops and roundtable events to analyse major electoral events.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh