Election and political data
Election and political data supports research, policy and analysis, but political opinions are special-category data. This guide covers sourcing it responsibly.
A cautious starting point
Data revealing political opinions is special-category under the GDPR, with strict conditions. Aggregated, official and anonymised data are the appropriate defaults; individual-level political profiling is high-risk and tightly constrained.
The data landscape
- Results: official election outcomes by area.
- Boundaries: constituency and ward geographies.
- Polling: aggregated survey data.
- Context: turnout and demographics.
Common use cases
Political and policy research, market and risk context, geographic analysis, and academic study, at aggregate level.
Sourcing considerations
Official results and boundaries are authoritative and largely open; polling varies in methodology. Any individual-level data demands the strictest care, and aggregation is the norm.
Delivery and governance
Most use cases use batches with geospatial boundaries. The GDPR special-category rules apply to anything revealing political opinion. Provenance matters.
In a managed model
A managed partner can source official results, boundaries and aggregated polling responsibly.
Official, aggregated and careful
Data revealing political opinions is special-category under the GDPR, so the responsible defaults are official, aggregated and anonymised data: results by area, constituency boundaries, and aggregated polling. Individual-level political profiling is high-risk and tightly constrained. Official election results and boundaries are authoritative and largely open; polling varies in methodology.
Uses and geography
Election and political data supports research, policy and geographic analysis, usually joined to demographic and turnout context on consistent boundaries. Provenance matters, and anything approaching individual-level data demands the strictest care under data-protection law.
- Political opinion data is special-category under the GDPR.
- Default to official, aggregated and anonymised data.
- Results and boundaries are authoritative; polling varies.
- Individual-level political profiling is high-risk and constrained.
Sources & further reading
- National electoral commissions: official results.
- EU and national geographic boundary data.
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), special categories.
- Polling-industry methodology standards.
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