YouGov's political research team tracks public attitudes to the Government and political parties, and explores the public's views on
the major social, international and
public policy issues of the day.

We are uniquely well placed to research particular groups such as the members of the three main political parties and various trade unions, as well as the supporters (and opponents) of particular causes, because the size of our panel allows us to access particular groups that conventional survey methods can reach far less readily.

We have researched the electorate’s views on every significant political and public policy issue, ranging from climate change to the Iraq war, from taxation to immigration and from ‘cash for honours’ to the future of the British monarchy.

Taking all events – mainly elections – at which our final prediction polls can be compared with the actual results, our average margin of error is just over one percentage point. In the 2005 general election, all nine of our published surveys during the final three weeks of the campaign recorded support for both Labour and the Conservatives to be within one point of the vote-share secured by both parties – a record for consistent accuracy unparalleled in British polling history.

Our team was the first to show that David Cameron had taken the lead in 2005 in the race to become Conservative Party leader, and was the most accurate in predicting his margin of victory. We were the only research team to survey Liberal Democrat members during their 2007 leadership contest, correctly showing that Nick Clegg’s lead over Chris Huhne was narrower than many commentators at the time believed, and that the race had the capacity to become ever closer (it did).

We are as happy conducting research for groups that take sides (such as political parties and pressure groups) as we are for organisations that analyse politics and public policy issues more objectively, but we seek to ask questions with the same levels of rigour, whatever the nature of the client. This is because we wish to protect our reputation for conducting high-quality research and this is also because we believe that worthless data gathered from ‘leading’ or biased questions are more liable to undermine than enhance the client’s cause.

Clients in recent years have included Daily Telegraph; Sunday Times; Economist; Evening Standard; Scottish Daily Express; Channel 4 News; Sky News; Independent Television News (ITN); Tonight with Trevor McDonald; GMTV; Readers’ Digest; Conservative Party; Labour Party; Liberal Democrats; Scottish National Party; UK Independence Party; Green Party; Fabian Society; Labour Deputy Leadership campaigns of Harriet Harman and Jon Cruddas; Commission for Racial Equality; Trades Union Congress; Migration Watch; Independent Commission on Proportional Representation; British Election Study; and Political Studies Association.

Contact Peter Kellner or Kate Davies

E: peter.kellner@yougov.com
E: kate.davies@yougov.com
T: +44 (0)20 7012 6052 / 6057