psephology

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(sē-fŏl'ə-jē) pronunciation
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 ('fə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) adj.
psephologist pse·phol'o·gist n.

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.


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.

Obscure Words:

psephology

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the scientific study of elections
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Psephology play /sɨˈfɒləi/ (from Greek psephos ψῆφος, 'pebble', which the Greeks used as ballots) is a branch of political science which deals with the study and scientific analysis of elections. Psephology uses historical precinct voting data, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was coined in the United Kingdom in 1952 by historian R. B. McCallum to describe the scientific analysis of past elections.

Contents

Applications

Psephology also has various applications specifically in analysing the results of election returns for current indicators, as opposed to predictive purposes. For instance, the Gallagher Index measures the disproportionality of an election.

Notable psephologists

Notable psephologists include Australians Antony Green and Malcolm Mackerras (who devised the Mackerras Pendulum); and Americans Michael Barone, who has published The Almanac of American Politics biennially since 1972, Nate Silver whose website FiveThirtyEight tracks US voting trends, and David Butler and Robert McKenzie, who co-developed the swingometer.

See also

Further reading

  • William Safire. New Political Dictionary, Random House, New York 1993.

External links

  • ACE Project – Comprehensive information resource for Electoral Design and Administration. Includes much comparative data on elections and electoral systems
  • 'Psephos' Dr. Adam Carr's Elections Archive
  • International IDEA – International Organisation providing (amongst other things) statistical analysis of elections and electoral systems

Translations:

Psephology

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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


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