psephology
American Heritage Dictionary:
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pse·phol·o·gy
(sē-fŏl'ə-jē) 
n.
The study of political elections.
psephologist pse·phol'o·gist n.
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.
Word Overheard by Answers.com:
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psephology
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. 
Oxford Dictionary of Politics:
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psephology
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.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Psephology
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Psephology 
/sɨˈfɒlədʒi/ (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.
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Contents
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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
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Psephology
Dansk (Danish)
n. - valganalyse
Nederlands (Dutch)
verkiezingskunde
Français (French)
n. - étude du comportement électoral
Deutsch (German)
n. - Wahlanalytik
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ψηφολογία, εκλογολογία
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
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) علم الانتخابات
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - תורת הבחירות
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Politics
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Psephology.
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