psephologyn.
/sᵻˈfɒlədʒi/, /siːˈfɒlədʒi/, /sɛˈfɒlədʒi/, U.S. /siˈfɑlədʒi/ The study of public elections; statistical analysis of trends in voting; (now usually) the prediction of electoral results based on analysis of sample polls, voting patterns, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > study of
psephology1949
1949 R. B. McCallum Let. 12 July (O.E.D. Archive) 2 By the way, the correct name for the science which we have invented is psephology... I was with [C. S.] Lewis and the Choice Spirits today and I told them I was the inventor of Electionology. This dreadful hybrid shocked them very deeply..so they gave me psephology.
1951 R. B. McCallum in Oxf. Mag. 17 May 414/1 Mr. Nicholas's book [sc. The British General Election of 1950] has made a notable advance in a subject for which it might be convenient to coin a new term, psephology.
1952 D. E. Butler Brit. Gen. Election of 1951 1 It..seems appropriate to preface this book with a discussion of why elections merit study and an examination of how much has been..learnt from psephology.
1957 Economist 21 Sept. 917/2 Even with the present degree of Liberal revival in the country, prudent (as distinct from roseate) psephology suggests that the only new seats the Liberals might pick up [etc.].
1973 Guardian 25 May 12/2 Even with the aid of psephology, it remains difficult to detect what precisely turns votes.
2018 Times (Ireland ed.) (Nexis) 27 Dec. 15 The Democrats were heading in the direction of a trap in 2020 in which fuzzy thinking and faith-based psephology could destroy their chances of toppling Donald Trump.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1949