Over four decades the Centre has established a reputation across a broad range of organisations across government, political parties and the media.

Best known for its comprehensive database of local election results the Centre also works on parliamentary and other elections.

The Centre’s Directors, Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, are regular contributors to national media. They write for The Sunday Times, Local Government Chronicle, and the Local Government Association’s First magazine, and have had a significant presence on ITV and Sky News since 1989 and formed part of the exit poll team that announced the surprise outcome of the 2015 and 2017 general elections.

Rallings and Thrasher were awarded the prestigious Political Studies Association national award in 2007 for ‘crucial work on elections over a sustained period’ combining ‘academically rigorous study with rare communicative skills’.

In 2018 they received the judges’ award from the Royal Television Society for their work in broadcasting the results of the exit polls.

A Guardian editorial (‘In praise of…Rallings and Thrasher, 02/05/2013) attested to their long and ‘distinguished record…in illuminating British democracy’.

Rallings and Thrasher receiving the PSA communication award from Jackie Ashley

The Centre’s work is underpinned by research.  Along with their collaborator, Dr Galina Borisyuk, research papers examine the nature and operation of electoral bias in UK parliamentary elections (with Ron Johnston of Bristol University), the effects of candidate appearance on voting (with Susan Banducci and Jeff Karp of Exeter University), the ethnic origins of candidates and patterns of voter support (with Richard Webber of OriginsInfo), mayoral elections (with David Cowling, former Head of Political Research, BBC and Research Fellow, Kings College), split-ticket voting, and with Scott Orford of Cardiff University a series of papers considering voter participation and distance to polling stations.