Psephology

Psephology is a term that was once used for the statistical study of elections. Psephology uses compilations of local or district election returns for elections going back some years, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was coined (from the Greek psephos, 'pebble', which the Greeks used as ballots) in Britain in 1952 by historian R. B. McCallum to describe the scientific analysis of past elections. In Britain the term occasionally appears in the scholarly literature.

In the United States the term has been very rarely used since the 1960s except in a sarcastic sense. Political journalists sometimes ridicule people who try to scientifically predict future elections by calling it psephology, suggesting it is akin to astrology. Thus journalist David Broder has explained, "The science of interpreting elections has a fancy name: psephology. A shorter, simpler and more accurate title for much election analysis is: fiction."

Bibliography

• William Safire. New Political Dictionary, Random House, New York 1993.