psephology

(sē-fŏl'ə-jē)
n.
The study of political elections.

[Greek psēphos, pebble, ballot (from the ancient Greeks' use of pebbles for voting) + -LOGY.]

psephological pse'pho·log'i·cal (sē'fə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) adj.
psephologist pse·phol'o·gist n.

(see-FOL-uh-jee)

noun
The study of elections and voting, and their statistical analysis in the prediction of results.

Etymology
From Greek psephos (pebble) + -logy (study). Why a pebble in a word for predicting election results? That's because ancient Greeks used pebbles as ballots to register votes in elections. In fact, that's where the word ballot comes from. A ballot is, literally, a little ball (diminutive of Italian balla). Psephocracy is the word for a government decided by election.

Usage
"The science of interpreting elections has a fancy name: psephology. A shorter, simpler and more accurate title for much election analysis is: fiction." — David S. Broder; Psephology Finds Only Voter Indifference; Austin American Statesman (Texas); Sep 16, 1989.

"In fact, with the exception of the foreign film and documentary categories, chosen by more elite committees, each is a postal vote of the 5,600-strong membership, a vote superintended by PricewaterhouseCoopers, though voting majority and turnout records are not disclosed. There is no such thing as psephology on Oscar night." — Peter Bradshaw; Oscars 2003: This Hypnotic Spectacle; The Guardian (London, UK); Mar 21, 2003.

---

Political polls and the study thereof may not necessarily be untruthful but they should be taken with a grain of salt. So says conservative columnist William F. Buckley, undertaking the defense of the popularity-challenged George W. Bush:

"The most amusing, and jauntily informative, depiction of the popularity track [of the president] was done by Stuart Eugene Thiel, an enterprising student of psephology. One line shows the price of gas, a second line the popularity of President Bush. The lines follow in fascinating parallel. They suggest that if gas went to $5 a gallon, Bush would be impeached. If down to $2 a barrel, he'd be put up for a third term."

Link: Bush the evangelist?

Posted May 11, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

Term coined 1952 by R. B. McCallum and popularized by D. E. Butler to denote the study of elections and voting behaviour. From Greek psephos, the pebble thrown into one or another urn to cast a vote in democratic Athens.

the scientific study of elections

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - valganalyse

Nederlands (Dutch)
verkiezingskunde

Français (French)
n. - étude du comportement électoral

Deutsch (German)
n. - Wahlanalytik

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ψηφολογία, εκλογολογία

Italiano (Italian)
sefologia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - estudo do processo eleitoral (m)

Русский (Russian)
исследование активности избирателей

Español (Spanish)
n. - psefología, estudio estadístico de elecciones

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - valanalys (pol.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
选举学

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 選舉學

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 선거학

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 選挙学

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) علم الانتخابات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תורת הבחירות‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.