The code (and other stuff…)

I’ve received a couple of emails or comments on one of the General Election posts to ask me to share the code I’ve used.

In general, I think this is a bit dirty and lots could be done in a more efficient way $-$ effectively, I’m doing this out of my own curiosity and while I think the model is sensible, it’s probably not “publication-standard” (in terms of annotation etc).

Anyway, I’ve created a (rather plain) GitHub repository, which contains the basic files (including R script, R functions, basic data and JAGS model). Given time (which I’m not given…), I’d like to put a lot more description and perhaps also write a Stan version of the model code. I could also write a more precise model description $-$ I’ll try to update the material on the GitHub.

On another note, the previous posts have been syndicated in a couple of places (here and here), which was nice. And finally, here’s a little update with the latest data. As of today, the model predicts the following seats distribution.

Labour are still slowly but surely gaining some ground $-$ I’m not sure the effect of the debate earlier this week (which was deserted by the PM) are visible yet as only a couple of the polls included were conducted after that.

Another interesting thing (following up on this post) is the analysis of the marginal seats that the model predicts to swing from the 2015 Winners. I’ve updated the plot, which now looks as below.

Now there are 30 constituencies that are predicted to change hand, many still towards the Tories. I am not a political scientists, so I don’t really know all the ins and outs of these, but I think a couple of examples are quite interesting and I would venture some comment…

So, the model doesn’t know about the recent by-elections of Copeland and Stoke-on-Trent South and so still label these seats as “Labour” (as they were in 2015), although the Tories have actually now control of Copeland.

In the prediction given the polls and the impact of the EU referendum (both were strong Leave areas with with 60% and 70% of the preference, respectively) and the Tories did well in 2015 (36% vs Labour’s 42% in Copeland and 33% to Labour’s 39% in 2015). So, the model is suggesting that both are likely to switch to the Tories this time around.

In fact, we know that at the time of the by-election, while Copeland (where the contest was mostly Labour v Tories) did go blue, Stoke didn’t. But there, the main battle was between the Labour’s and the UKIP’s candidate (UKIP had got 21% in 2015). And the by-election was fought last February, when the Tories lead was much more robust that it probably is now.

Another interesting area is Twickenham $-$ historically a constituency leaning to the Lib Dems, which was captured by the Conservatives in 2015. But since then, in another by-election the Tories have lost another similar area (Richmond Park,with a massive swing) and the model is suggesting that Twickenham could follow suit, come next Thursday.

Finally, Clapton was the only seat won by UKIP in 2015, but since then, the elected MP (a former Tory-turned-UKIP) has defected the party and is not contesting the seat. This, combined with the poor standing of UKIP in the polls produces the not surprisingly outcome that Clapton is predicted to go blue with basically no uncertainty…

These results look reasonable to me $-$ not sure how life will turn out of course. As many commentators have noted much may depend on the turn out among the younger. Or other factors. And probably there’ll be another instance of the “Shy-Tory effect” (I’ll think about this if I get some time before the final prediction). But the model does seem to make some sense…