Omnisis WeThink Data Fuels Voter Prediction Tool

Manchester, UK-based fieldwork firm Omnisis has teamed up with business and politics publication The Economist to launch an interactive tool predicting how people may vote in the next general election.

The Economist used around 100,000 pieces of polling data gathered by WeThink, Omnisis' polling brand since September 2023, to create the 'build-a-voter' tool. The tool allows users to explore the voting intention of more than 900,000 demographic groups within Britain's electorate - these are based on eight characteristics: region, age, sex, ethnicity, education, employment, housing and population density).

The tool produces two charts (see illustration): one showing how each characteristic shifts an individual's probable vote from the national average; the other how this voter compares with other groups of voters, and how many Britons share the same characteristics. The firms give the example of comparing how a white, unemployed middle-aged man in the north-west of England may vote compared to a 24-year-old Asian woman in full-time employment in the south of England.

Omnisis MD and co-founder Brian Cooper comments: 'This is such a cool and exciting project. We pride ourselves on gathering robust polling data, so to see it being used and brought to life in such an innovative way is brilliant. There's no doubt that the Build A Voter tool will provide fascinating insights in the run up to the next general election and we can't wait to see how accurate the predictions are after polling day'. The Economist's James Fransham says 'data from WeThink were invaluable in creating this tool'.

Web sites: www.wethink.report and www.omnisis.co.uk .