The British Election Study 
     The Principal Investigators

David Sanders is a Professor of Government at the University of Essex, where he has taught politics since 1975. He is author of numerous books and articles on various aspects of UK politics. He has been joint editor of the British Journal of Political Science since 1990.

Paul Whiteley is a Professor of Government at the University of Essex and Director of the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme. He has extensive experience in survey design, most recently involving the ESRC Citizen Audit surveys.

Harold Clarke is Ashbel Smith Professor, School of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex.  He has been a principal investigator on several national survey research projects in Canada including Canadian national election studies and the Political Support in Canada studies.  In collaboration with David Sanders, Marianne Stewart and Paul Whiteley, he is currently conducting monthly public opinion surveys on public service delivery and the dynamics of party support in Britain.  He also is collaborating with Allan Kornberg and Tom Scotto of Duke University on a national study of party support in the 2004 Canadian federal election.

Marianne Stewart is Professor at the School of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas. She has participated in several major survey research projects in Canada and Great Britain. Sanders, Clarke and Stewart are also collaborating on a 4-year project, funded by ESRC, to collect monthly survey data on British voters’ attitudes towards democracy and their preparedness to engage in various forms of political activity.