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MESH Election Experience Monitor 2010

UK Election 2010

MESH Election Experience Monitor

In the run up to the UK General Election on 6 May, Dr Paul Baines, Reader in Marketing at Cranfield School of Management will be commenting on the leaders' debates and analysing political marketing aspects of the campaign. He will also share the early findings of a ground-breaking research tool that Cranfield and UK-based research agency MESH Planning has developed to evaluate the 2010 Election Campaign.

The MESH Election Experience Monitor will assess the persuasiveness of different channels (paid-for-advertising, news coverage, word-of-mouth) for each of the main UK political parties amongst a sample of 1,100 ‘floating voters’. The research will provide a wealth of data that will reveal which experiences actually drove voting behaviour in the 2010 UK Election.

Latest Research Results
The proportion of Poster experiences has risen significantly (+10%). After the Leaders Debate and TV News, Posters were the 3rd largest touch point floating voters were coming into contact within the 24 hour period to midnight on Thursday 29 April. This is not reference to the big national posters but a springing up of posters in fields and gardens with around 75% being for Local Party Candidates. Whilst our floating voters say that these simple posters with a name and slogan are not affecting voting intentions (85% made no difference), their diary comments suggest that actually they probably are in subtle ways.
	Breakdown of experiences by communication channel on day of Final Leaders' Debate (29 April 2010)
	Breakdown of net persuasiveness by communication channel on day of each Leaders' Debate (15 v 22 v 29 April 2010)
	Breakdown of net persuasiveness of each political party during each Leaders' Debate (15 v 22 v 29 April 2010)

	Breakdown of experiences by communication channel on day of Leaders' Debate (22 April 2010)
	Breakdown of persuasiveness of each communication channel on day of Leaders' Debates (15 & 22 April 2010)
	Breakdown of persuasiveness of each political party during Leaders' Debate (15 & 22 April 2010)

	Floating voters are slightly more likely to vote Liberal Democrats (13-19 April)
	Liberal Democrats persuade floating voters through range of channels (13-19 April)
	Floating voters comment on TV news coverage of Liberal Democrats the most (13-19 April)
	Floating voters comment on Conservative Poster Ads the most (13-19 April)
	Floating voters comment on TV news coverage of Labour the most (13-19 April)

	Breakdown of experiences by communication channel on day of Leaders Debate (15 April 2010)
	Breakdown of persuasiveness of each communication channel on day of Leaders Debate (15 April 2010)
	Breakdown of persuasiveness of each political party during Leaders Debate (15 April 2010)

More Info Innovative Research Approach About this Research
Election Commentary
	Election 2010: Final Analysis (04.05.10) Steve Macaulay talks to Fiona Blades and Paul Baines.
	Bigotgate: Final Debate Reaction (30.04.10) Reaction to the third and final TV debate with the three party leaders.
	Tackling the Lull (28.04.10) The latest commentary and reactions on the 2010 UK Election by Dr Paul Baines and Fiona Blades.
	Election Debate Reaction 2 (23.04.10) Reaction to the second TV debate with the three party leaders, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
	Election Campaign Insights (21.04.10) What impact are the leaders' debates having? Are other media important? The results from our unique floating voters' survey.
	Election Debate Reaction (16.04.10) A reaction to the first TV debate with the three party leaders, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
	Election Poster Critique (15.04.10) Paul Baines gives a critique of the latest election posters from Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party.