James Kanagasooriam Profile
James Kanagasooriam

@JamesKanag

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Pollster. Chief Research Officer of @focaldataHQ + Researcher @UKandEU | Board of @ukonward and @TenebraeChoir |

United Kingdom
Joined March 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
We’ve launched a newsletter “Bi-focal” today at @focaldataHQ . The idea is twice a month giving politics and research curious people some food for thought. Sign up is here
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Fire in your CV and I can interview you next week.
@ElectionMapsUK
Election Maps UK
4 years
spending too much time running this account rather than on mock exams really backfired 😬
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Siri, explain to me why Tony Blair is the only election winning Labour Prime Minister in the last 40 years
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Attacking the Tories for class privilege has famously worked for Labour at the last four great socialist victories of 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
@PaulJSweeney
Paul Sweeney
3 years
If only we were all born to privileged middle class parents, got sent to a top private school, Oxford, Harvard, then got work experience in the Tory Party for free, a job at Goldman Sachs, married into a billionaire dynasty, then got parachuted into a safe Tory seat in Yorkshire.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Seeing lots of crazed explanations on Twitter about how really Labour lost this election, and the Tories barely won. The Tories have increased their vote share at every single election since 2001. Almost unprecedented in a western democracy. Have a think, have a nice weekend
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 months
We’ve conducted a large poll in Australia (the largest public one of the campaign except YouGov) to assess “The Voice” referendum. The result looks comprehensive for No at 61/39. We’ve also done an MrP on the data and it looks like only 22 of Australia’s seats are for yes.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
We’ve ( @HanburyStrategy ) calculated ward level EU Referendum estimates in England/Wales. Mapping 1000+ real results and 7000+ modelled ones. The picture by ward (RHS) shows a much more complex picture than local authority results (LHS) of Leave rural areas vs Remain cities. (1/3)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Remain has made many strategic missteps. One of them is to nod along to the sweeping, negative, anti-British sentiments emanating out of EU leaders like Varadkar. Nobody is going to back a cause that tells them their country is rubbish. Varadkar absolutely the midwife of No Deal
@DarranMarshall
Darran Marshall
5 years
Taoiseach said Britain “struggled” to accept it was “not as important in the world” and that its economy would be overtaken by France, India and growing Far-Eastern countries.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
I think many have misunderstood the import of Alex Salmond’s new party. The way the D’Hondt formula works is that “Alba” has the potential to be lethal to Unionist parties if they poll above 6%. The way it’s being framed is as if this were a FPTP election and splitting the vote
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Dire Tory performance with young voters is I think driven by 8 factors. 1) % of electorate which is BME 2) Expansion of Higher Education 3) Changing av age of areas 4) ⬆️House price/income ratios 5) Tuition Fees 6) Financial Crash 7) Brexit 8) Rise of Social Liberalism (1/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 years
The average @Conservative voter is getting older and older at a faster rate than the U.K population is ageing. This should concern the party
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Just spotted this camper van in Shoreditch. Ballsy move to park this in a Labour seat with a 37,000 majority 😂
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 years
Public school+Cambridge alumnus has a crack at a state educated, northern, working class, Bradford uni educated Tory MP for being too posh 🤔
@Baddiel
David Baddiel
7 years
The Tories seem now to have an endless supply of men who could, if push came to shove, play "Minor Royal" in The Crown. #GavinWilliamson
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
16 part thread on where the U.K. Conservative party has historically, and is still, under-performing, and why that's interesting for any upcoming election…(1/16)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Current Tory hegemony in England is driven by paradox that Remainy Wessex is economically more right wing than socially liberal, but huge swathes of Midlands / North are more socially Conservative than they are economically left. That’s why Darlington is blue & Windsor isn’t red
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
I've been quiet this election, so a small thread. This feels like if the electorate had the choice they would elect a Conservative President and a Centre-left parliament. Denied that choice they are muddling their way to a conclusion. (1/9)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
The debate about left-wing bias in BBC comedy is instructive. The opposite of left-wing comedy isn’t right-wing comedy, it’s just comedy. Similar in politics. In focus groups of basically apolitical people who care for the stuff of life and aren’t political and they’re 70/30 Tory
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
“Independence for London” is a political position which is electorally weak, economically regressive, legally impossible and dystopian in the extreme. I can’t think of a policy which better sums up the irrelevance of the Liberal Democrats than this aside.
@SiobhanBenita
Siobhan Benita 🇺🇦🌻
4 years
If I were Scottish I’d vote yes at this stage. London independence from this shambles of a Brexit Britain wouldn’t be bad either.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Remembering my great-great Uncle Richard who died in France as a Ceylonese volunteer 101 years ago, roughly my age. Saddest thing clearing out my late father’s things from his GP’s surgery was the poppy and cross dedicated to this man.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Thread on #GE2019 . Labour polling likely to increase from low/mid 20’s. Current polls driven off those give a voting intention. These DK voters disproportionately include women, 2017 Lab voters + younger voters. When they break it will be to the advantage of Labour (1/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Happy to write my debut column for @thetimes today covering @Dannythefink ’s week off, discussing the average voter - and why it’s probably not who you think and what that means for our politics
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
The gap between a hung parliament and a landslide is very, very small. I think this is appreciated, and therefore the caginess of commentators reflects the data, not a lack of confidence or expertise. No clear answers, but lots of interesting questions. (9/9)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Lots of discussion about the beginning of the end for mega cities, and the hollowing out of them post COVID, with a premium given to space and size. If this does happen I think the political consequences are huge. Small thread on imaginary UK scenario if we’re to happen (1/7)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Ceylan’s NYT journo history is just fleshed out wording of an anti British bot. Her consecutive last pieces; U.K corona hoarding, U.K racism towards Meghan, paramilitary violence in NI, likely breakup of U.K, U.K security failings on terror, falling faith in U.K institutions 😬
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
27 days
Struggling to understand that we could potentially legalise assisted dying but ban smoking. Sorry kids you can’t smoke, but you can end your life
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
This looks like the kind of behaviour any centre-right person should applaud. Looking after your family ✅ Getting on in life ✅ Investing smartly ✅
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
1 year
I think about this graph of most important issues in the UK over the last ten years from ⁦ @YouGov ⁩ quite a lot.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Short thread on upcoming Scottish Holyrood Elections. Whilst Alba is potentially beneficial to the Nationalist side, @Alliance4Unity damages the Unionist side. I’ll explain why as @georgegalloway and Unionist hard right/left seem to struggling with maths
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Irrespective of your view on Brexit and the PM it’s a pretty impressive piece of statecraft for the PM to bring an EU backed deal to the House in just 90 days. Irrespective of the outcome of the vote, voters will notice that this Gov’t can get stuff done
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Whether you agree or disagree with him, Gareth Southgate articulates a progressive Englishness that is both powerful and moving
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
If there's a Deal which passes I'd expect a trampoline-like bounce for the Tories + the worst environment for the Left to have an Election. Clear cut through of doing Brexit, and a pivot to the left on economics will be an Exocet missile at Labour's Midlands and Northern voters
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Weird it’s taken people 2 years to work this out, when the “original” thesis I put out on this website literally identified the Red Wall this way
@OwenJones84
Owen Jones
3 years
A lot of what's actually going on in British politics right now isn't so much "the Tories are conquering working-class communities in the north and Midlands" as "the Tories are doing very well in communities with high levels of homeownership"
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 years
More Scots voted Leave in 2016 (1,018,322) than voted SNP (977,568) in the 2017 Election. Media commentary in Scotland doesn't reflect this.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Fascinating poll out today from @IpsosMORI on Right/Left identification. The poll provides further evidence that Right Wing support looks like a "Nike tick" by age (and Left Wing support the inverse) (1/8)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Small, niche thread on (political) polling and whether we need to start having BAME/ non-white cross breaks as a standard in public polls, inspired by various conversations from @election_data , @MattSingh_ and @sundersays and others... (1/14)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
It’s a source of fascination to me at how white extinction rebellion is.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 months
The next UK election - in terms of vote % and seat counts - is going to be a tough one for the polling industry to nail; new census, new boundaries, 5 years since last elex driving false recall, proportional swing, tactical voting. An absolute perfect storm of potential error.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#7 Young people do not like Brexit. The Conservative party is becoming the party of Brexit. Young People therefore are increasingly turning against the Conservatives. Just 6% of 18-24 and 18% of 25-49 think that No deal is a good outcome for the U.K. (8/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
Couple of thoughts on the Croydon, Harrow and Tower Hamlets results. These were all driven by very different circumstances and populations, but one of the underexplored features of recent elections is sharp shifts to the right amongst select Asian populations.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Take a bow @Samfr
@Samfr
Sam Freedman
4 years
Right new predictions for 2020....British politics first: 1. Starmer will win the Labour leadership. The membership is way to the left of where it use to be but doesn't function as a bloc hard left vote and Starmer is popular for his remain stance.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
@epkaufm @HanburyStrategy I don’t have provide anything, but here you go.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Twitter thread coming based on my modelling of the Leave and Remain 2016 vote by postcode (1/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Anyone who grew up in the shadow of a cathedral, and more, will look at those pictures of Notre Dame and shudder. Cathedrals are our link to the past and help us imagine ourselves as participating in an unending chain of human activity with a common thread #NotreDame
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Light bit of weekend reading. Me writing about how I came up with the concept of the ‘red wall’, and how it turned blue via @FT
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
6 years
Interesting map below reminds us that UK attitudes towards race are systemically more progressive than most of Europe and the EU
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Bit of personal news, I’m launching a new polling company @stacksstrat , backed by old colleagues at @Hanburystrategy . Creating a company of statistical nerds has been dream of mine. I’m lucky that my hobby is my job and I’m delighted to be joined by a team of great people
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Important work from @RedfieldWilton on attitudes on tax by age. One of the paradoxes of British politics is that the young have moved sharply to the right on economics and left at the ballot box, and older voters the opposite. How does this happen? Because culture is still king.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Clarkson’s farm is astonishing TV. Wasn’t expecting to be so moved.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
With good news for Democrats coming from Georgia it’s worth musing on the growing visibility of the left’s path to win across the west - patriotic, focussed on issues of economic justice, optimistic, and in many cases, a belief set that tilts towards the civil / actual religious
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 years
The changes in party support, by age, 2015 -2017, is simply staggering. The U.K is now a nation totally divided along age lines #GE2017
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
This is no evidence whatsoever for this assertion. Thought the New Statesman would be more alive to fake news aimed squarely at the right after the Scruton debacle.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
I've been mulling on how freedom (civil & political) has across the world become decoupled from prosperity, and what the implications are. I've framed this as the breaking of Fukuyama's Curve™. I'm sure many will disagree with the following thread (1/12)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#6 The Financial Crash has dramatically altered views on capitalism. Past generations had Winter of Discontent/fall of the Berlin wall as their lodestar. This new generation has corrupt banks, tax dodging companies, and soaring CEO pay as their formative political context (7/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Analysing the UK General Election 2019 results at @HanburyStrategy , through the lens of ward level modelling (my 1st iteration below). The complexity of the politics of the West of England+Wales is remarkable once you drill down and map (thank you Aaron) below constituency level
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
My thoughts in @thetimes about why our UK politics is so fractious - mainly because all political sides can claim a mixture of cultural / economic alienation. Constant elections, social media and geographic self sorting also hurting unity.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
There are 4 political groupings in England. Trad Labour voters (c2010), Trad Tory voters (c2010), Brexit leaning voters + Remain/Greenish Liberals. In a PR system the parties would take c25% each (liberals maybe less). In a FPTP system we have a receipe for political chaos (1/6)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
I'm not convinced that the political parties understand where "Middle England/Wales" exists. Analysis indicates Ipswich, Sevenoaks, Broxtowe, Wrexham, Newark, Preston, C.Croydon, Basingstoke, Blackley & Broughton + Warrington South are the best seats to understand #EURef (1/7)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
*Logs on to Twitter, scrolls for five minutes, sighs, logs back off*
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
Small thread on the Tory leadership contest, and a few polling / non polling observations. The @IpsosUK leader ratings data is some of the best data out there. The difference between the PM and LOTO ratings has correctly predicted the direction of every election since 1979.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#8 Its almost always Tory MPs who stand against progressive issues (assisted dying/same-sex marriage). These are ethical/political propositions disproportionately supported by the young - and in time by the majority of society (9/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#2 The expansion of higher education is dramatically shifted the life outcomes, values, debt levels and worldviews of different generations. Almost the entire difference in propensity to vote by age in The EU Referendum is explained by education levels and qualification (3/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#3 Young people are increasingly being drawn to cities – gutting small towns of a sense of the future+working age pop. Living in urban areas has demonstrable effects on long-term voting patterns, shifting them left. Not creating rural opportunity has political consequences (4/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Day 1 of local election results likely to be dominated by Hartlepool. Days 2+ by national elections in Scotland and Wales. But there���s evidence of the stirrings of a wider Green movement as a better/revived vehicle for progressive politics over the next 20 yrs vs Labour
@BritainElects
Britain Elects
3 years
Reddish South (Stockport) council result: Grn: 48.1% (+41.0) Lab: 34.7% (-23.1) Con: 10.8% (-3.2) Ind: 5.0% (+5.0) LDem: 1.4% (-4.5) No UKIP (-14.0) as prev. Grn GAIN from Lab More:
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
It’s frustrating watching fellow members of the U.K centre right fail to grasp the cultural, historical and political power of Irish America brought up on a diet of Thatcher & Reagan anecdotes. I could count on two hands Tories who even know De Valera was American born
@JoeBiden
Joe Biden
4 years
We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit. Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
That said Labour's manifesto hasn't lit the red touch paper like 2017. Tuition fees was an issue that cut right to the heart of intergenerational fairness. Free train tickets, Wi-Fi and a 4 day week is what you expect if you work at Google, not as Government policy (4/9)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
If Chipping Norton is your sense for where the “border” for northern England is I’d suggest going back to the drawing board
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#4 Growing House prices vs wages ratio has decimated home ownership (driver of voting Tory). You can get a good steer on the long term Tory fortunes 2010-2017 by seat by looking at average house price vs income ratios. The higher the ratio, the worse the Tory performance. (5/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 months
If this Clacton constituency poll is close to correct then reform really are not on 12% nationally
@OprosUK
Opros Politics 🇺🇦
3 months
Westminster Voting Intention (Clacton): CON: 38% (-34) LAB: 30% (+14) REF: 18% (NEW) LDM: 6% (=) via @Survation , 11-12 Jan (Changes with 2019 Election)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
7 years
Richmond one of a small group of Tory seats vulnerable to Remain tactical voting. Graphic below indicates up to c.20-25 could be vulnerable
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
So to be honest Galloway’s horseshoe band of hard right and left irreconcilables is a innumerate Trojan horse for separatism. It’s literally just maths. Alba and @Alliance4Unity aren’t the same thing. Google, a pen, a calculator and 2 hours can prove that.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Thread on the Tory party and Free markets coming up: There are some critical questions that the Conservative party should face up regarding a) the number of voters who believe in Free markets and b) How Free Market supporters will vote next Election (1/9)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
The solution to the issues the party has with younger voters will have to be multi-faceted. A good to start answering this would be to read this @ukonward Report written by @NeilDotObrien , @Will_Tanner + myself (10/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#5 The introduction of Tuition Fees was the turnkey to @LibDems collapse. This helped Cameron on a seat basis in 2015, but it long-term decoupled 25% of the electorate (disproportionately young) from their political anchoring. By 2017 many of them joined @jeremycorbyn (6/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Lots of extraordinary political polling numbers coming from @MattSingh_ and @roger_scully . Parties ⬆️ and ⬇️ double digits. We are currently in the middle of a phase of extreme political volatility. Best not to construct grand and final narratives in this climate (1/n)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Had to triple check to make sure it was true but Westmorland & Lonsdale (Tim Farron's seat) is the only Liberal seat in England and Wales to have been consistently Liberal since 2010. All others have been lost, won, or flipped multiple times since
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
We can see that 200 seat Wessex is highly contested on this axis. The degree of leave dominance across the East coast is utterly remarkable. The red wall is also much more divided then a blanket leave vote, and the eradication of the liberals in West Country explained (2/3)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
There’s something moving about the #USElection where specific groups have moved in the opposite direction to what was expected. Working class men moving Democrat, and LGBT + minorities moving Republican suggests maybe demographics aren’t destiny and maybe people are just people
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Hope to provide similar analysis of Scotland and NI soon - but interesting to note that on a 53/47 leave/remain leave takes c.70% of wards!
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
This Oxbridge offer table (h/t @ProfTimBale ) is doing the rounds re private/state dynamic, but what catches the eye is the dominance of Brighton, Cambridge, Oxford + London- areas stuffed with urban professionals (except Brampton/Huddersfield). Wonder what the policy solution is?
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Corbynomics is popular. YouGov generically polled Labour policies, and they were popular. Being likeable/popular is different though to being credible/possible. Corbynomics has been been partially neutralised by the Tories shifting sharply to the left on economics. (2/9)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
There is huge divergence in U.K national polls at the minute with extrapolated outcomes ranging from a hung parliament with Corbyn as PM to a massive Tory landslide. I don’t think the correct way to read current polling is to average these outcomes. (1/3)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
#1 Any one of these factors would be a problem. Their combination is creating a conveyor belt towards oblivion for the party. Younger people are disproportionately BAME, and older voters white – part of the reason the age curve is dramatic is a direct ethnicity effect (2/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
This is increasingly why “BAME” is a meaningless term. It doesn’t describe any common experiences, behaviours or voting patterns. What replaces it is a difficult question. That’s why it’s still in use.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
Winning another election shouldn’t really be a consideration for Conservatives at this point. 1/ Keeping the government functioning and doing right by millions of people facing hardship 2/restoring trust in the system 3/ stopping political oblivion.
@Will_Tanner
Will Tanner
2 years
NEW: @ukonward / @JLPartnersPolls polling of 1,034 voters on 21 Oct 2022. Candidate most likely to “restore integrity and honest leadership to British politics”: Rishi 21% Penny 9% Wallace 11% Boris 12% Kemi 3% Suella 1% 1/8
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Con-Lab delta very closely related to leader ratings. Iron law of politics identified by @mattsingh holds. Gap between between net satisfaction of PM and LOO divided by 3 gives expected Government lead over opposition. Public perception of leaders and debates critical (4/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 years
Short 🧵, this graph from @VictimOfMaths shows English Conservatives tend to do better in areas that are “quite” rich, despite realignment speeding up around graduate / non-graduate divide ( @drjennings good here). Centre right parties that forget this run into problems
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Margins mean tiny poll movements could change composition of Gov’t. Huge number of unknowns. What do 4m Tory Remainers do? Labour Leavers? What about Greens? What do the the 5.5m Lib Dem’s voting outside target seats do? Independents? A Plaid vote which is 35% leave?! (10/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
Lib Dems and Labour resemble Romulus and Remus - punching it out with lots of net switching. Almost none of which achieves strategic goal of eroding Tory majority. Remain voters will need signals and steers on how to vote. Public MRP could provide this albeit with noise (2/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
I’m deeply sceptical about the fortunes of the Independent Group. My thoughts for the @spectator recalling political analytics work I’ve done 2014-2017
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
If you want to get a sense of how complicated British politics is, I reckon by next election we will have c.40 different types of "seat histories" in England and Wales 2005-2019 - with only 2/3 rds consistently Tory or Labour (ordered by how likely they could rank by size) (1/3)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Lots of attention on Scottish, Northern Irish / English politics, but something is happening in Wales. The First Minister is fermenting Anti Westminster sentiment that long term increases support for Plaid/Separation but ends in labour decline and on FPTP basis benefits the Right
@BritainElects
Britain Elects
3 years
Welsh parliament voting intention(s): Constituency: LAB: 34% (-4) CON: 26% (-1) PC: 22% (+2) GRN: 6% (+3) REFUK: 5% (+5) LDEM: 4% (+1) List: LAB: 30% (-3) CON: 25% (+1) PC: 23% (+3) ABOLISH: 7% (-) GRN: 5% (+1) REFUK: 4% (+4) LDEM: 4% (-) via @YouGov , 11-14 Jan Chgs. w/ 30 Oct
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
2 months
Very interested in how Reform UK perform in Blackpool South by election. If there’s another underperformance from them, there’s a strong case to be made that there’s a potential systematic polling error.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
6 years
Modelling party support in London by ward here at @PopulusPolls . Projected huge swathes of red across the capital for @UKLabour
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
11 months
Obscene, tragic and unethical. Never seen a case for the “slippery slope” argument being proven so quickly and clearly
@yuanyi_z
Yuan Yi Zhu
11 months
The vice-president of the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers now openly admits people have chosen euthanasia because of poverty, after her organization spent years calling anyone who said this a liar. But she says it's okay because it's not illegal per se.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
I see the culture wars are putting an end to Britain’s Cathedral choirs. This statement on diversity - made by the five old white men who lead Sheffield cathedral - is majestic in its banality.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
8 years
Strong evidence of what drove polling miss. Misreading of widening divisions between minorities/grads vs blue-collar whites. Sound familiar?
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 months
The leadership of my home town’s cathedral is just so off piste. Just a slow motion car crash of 1,000 years of history and heritage
@CburyCathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
3 months
Fantastic atmosphere at last night’s Silent Disco! 🎧💃🕺 Thanks to everyone who joined us. We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone this evening! We'll be sharing more pictures later 📷
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
3 years
Watching the superb BBC Brown/Blair documentary prompted some election sleuthing. I had never realised the scale of decline in election turnout in the UK during the 1990s / early 2000s: John Major won more votes in 1997 than Blair did in 2005.
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
5 years
This asymmetric distribution also explains why metropolitan movements can create massive ideological bubbles which fail to penetrate as effectively throughout a country than more rural/populist movements (9/10)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
Firstly, the relationship between economic growth + density could decouple. This matters because cities getting richer and countryside getting poorer is part of the reason behind rise of populism + a globalist ideology amongst city elites which has rotated our politics (2/7)
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@JamesKanag
James Kanagasooriam
4 years
My kind of Conservative
@MittRomney
Mitt Romney
4 years
This is my father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the Detroit suburbs during the late 1960s—“Force alone will not eliminate riots,” he said. “We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”
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