The Italian Center for Electoral Studies, directed by Roberto D’Alimonte and coordinated by Lorenzo De Sio, was created to study electoral systems and data as well as public opinion on current topics. Since 2011, LUISS and the University of Florence have collaborated with universities such as Stanford, Sciences Po and the European University Institute.
As explained by Professor De Sio, "young PhD students, fellows and other students at CISE analyze voting trends and Italian and European politics, through the collection of aggregated data and survey data." Every six months, CISE uses the Osservatorio Politico survey to examine the voting intentions and political attitudes of Italian voters.
CISE is based on the idea of doing research and then disseminating that research clearly and rigorously. For this reason "we encourage publication on our site, so that our readers can directly access our reports."
The Center has recently designed and launched an initiative unique in Europe: the Special Elections in Europe. Twenty-two scholars, from Italy as well as abroad, look at the results of polls in 28 countries and then write short reports on differences in voting dynamics.
The same goal is at the basis of the EUandI application (part of a project supported by the European University Institute) which, uses 30 questions to help voters identify which party most reflects their views, and supplies data on current issues. "The application has been a great success: 120 young researchers have covered the positions of 240 parties on 30 different topics for the benefit of 500-600,000 users, creating communities among people of the same political orientation."
With regard to the usefulness of predicting election results through surveys, Professor De Sio says: "For CISE, the surveys are not a predictive tool but rather a way to analyze public opinion. Nevertheless, there is a lack of confidence in the data, as could be seen during the last European elections, when Italian pollsters saw which way the elections were going but did not publish their findings, given that they weren’t sure whether or not what they were seeing was an accurate reflection of voter sentiment."
To have a University backing CISE is essential: "LUISS gives crucial support to various aspects of research. In addition, it supplies us with a single network for private funding and allows us to cultivate a relationship with our students, who continuously provide us with challenges, questions, and research possibilities." Specifically, Professor De Sio, in his course Public opinion and political behavior, and Professor D'Alimonte, in his course The Italian Political System, provide students with useful tools for understanding public opinion and elections, and also involve several students in the Center’s activities.
For important events, CISE publishes free eBooks, which compile articles and specific research. These eBooks have already been downloaded over 12,000 times. The eBook related to the 2014 European elections will be published in Italian and English.