Constituency Campaigning at the 2019 General Election

选区层面的竞选活动已经成为英国所有主要政党的选举战略的关键，并出现了一部重要的学术文献。这项工作揭示了竞选技巧是如何随着时间的推移而发展起来的；政党如何应对社会、选民和自己政党内部的更广泛变化；政党在多大程度上能够有效地利用其资源来打赢选举；选民如何对政党的暗示做出反应；选民可以在多大程度上被动员起来；以及选举背景如何影响选举获胜的可能性。然而，由於科技和社会的转变，以及政治环境的转变，竞选的方式和策略一直在改变。选区竞选分析现已成为选举研究界、外部持份者和选举事务研究委员会研究选举的不可或缺的一环。自1992年以来，ESRC资助了对每一次大选的选举代理人的调查(2005年除外，其经费由选举委员会以低得多的水平提供)。这是世界上同类研究中最全面的。因此，有一个独特而有价值的时间序列，它加深了我们对运动在现代和不断变化的政治舞台上的影响、作用和性质的理解。拟议研究的目标是继续这项有价值的工作，并在四个关键领域提供显著的附加值：选举环境的变化；突然选举对竞选技巧--特别是数字选举的影响；对地方和国家竞选问题的关注；以及英国退欧危机对竞选活动的影响。

Constituency level campaigning has become crucial to the electoral strategies of all the major parties in Britain, and a significant academic literature has emerged. This work has revealed how campaign techniques have developed over time; how parties have responded to wider changes in society, the electorate, and within their own parties; the degree to which parties are able to harness their resources effectively to fight elections; how voters respond to cues from the parties, the extent to which voters can be mobilized; and how electoral context impacts upon the likelihood of electoral payoffs. However, campaign styles and strategies are changing all the time, both as a result of technological and societal changes, and because of the changing political context.The analysis of the constituency campaign is now an integral part of studying elections by the electoral studies community, external stakeholders and the ESRC. The ESRC has funded a survey of election agents at each general election since 1992 (with the exception of 2005, which was funded at a much lower level by the Electoral Commission). It is the most comprehensive study of its kind in the world. There is therefore a unique and valuable time series which furthers our understanding of the impact, role, and nature of campaigns in the modern and changing political arena. The objectives of the proposed study are to continue this valuable work as well as delivering significant added value in four key areas: the changed electoral context; the impact of the sudden election on campaign techniques - especially digital; the focus on local versus national campaign issues, and the impact of the Brexit crisis on the campaigns.