What is YouGov?: YouGov is a British internet-based market research and data analytics company founded in 2000, listed on the London Stock Exchange. It conducts online panel polling across 55+ countries and is best known for its political polling and MRP election forecasting model.
What did YouGov find about UK support for Iran strikes?: In March 2026, YouGov found 58% of Britons oppose US use of UK military bases for strikes on Iran, with only 21% in support. The poll was cited in parliamentary debates on UK involvement in the conflict.Source: YouGov
Did public opposition stop Starmer backing US bases for Iran?: No. Despite 58% of Britons opposing US use of UK bases in YouGov polling, Keir Starmer rejected calls for a parliamentary vote and maintained base access was for specific and limited defensive purposes.Source: Parliament
How accurate is YouGov polling?: YouGov gained significant credibility after its MRP model correctly forecast the 2017 UK general election when most rival polling firms did not. Its large online panels and quota sampling are widely used by UK media and political parties.
What is the difference between YouGov and traditional pollsters?: YouGov uses online panel polling rather than telephone or face-to-face methods, recruiting large stratified samples of internet users. Its MRP model aggregates constituency-level data, giving it greater granularity than standard national polls.
What does YouGov's final Welsh Senedd MRP predict?: YouGov's final Senedd MRP (fieldwork 25 April to 4 May 2026) projects Plaid Cymru 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 12, Welsh Conservatives 4, Wales Greens 2 — putting Welsh Labour at its lowest projected vote share since 1906.Source: YouGov MRP
What is YouGov's Westminster voting intention poll for May 2026?: YouGov's 4-5 May tracker placed Reform UK at 25%, Labour 18%, Conservatives 17%, Greens 15%, Lib Dems 14%, Restore Britain 4% — the first national poll of the cycle to place Reform clearly ahead of all parties.Source: YouGov
What is YouGov's MRP model and how does it work?: YouGov's MRP (Multilevel Regression and Post-stratification) model estimates constituency-level vote shares by combining large survey samples with demographic and historical data from each constituency. It produces seat projections before official results and was notably accurate in the 2017 and 2024 UK general elections.
What did YouGov predict for the 2026 Welsh Senedd election?: YouGov's final Senedd MRP (fieldwork 25 April–4 May 2026) projected Plaid Cymru 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 12, Welsh Conservatives 4, Wales Greens 2. The result closely matched the projection, with Welsh Labour falling to 9 seats.Source: Lowdown uk-elections-2026
What did YouGov polling find about UK public opinion on the Iran conflict?: In March 2026, YouGov polling found 58% of Britons opposed US use of UK military bases for strikes on Iran, with only 21% in support. The data was cited in the parliamentary debate when Keir Starmer declined to hold a formal Commons vote on UK base access.Source: Lowdown iran-conflict-2026
Is YouGov a UK or American company?: YouGov is a British company, founded in 2000 and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its headquarters are in London. It operates across more than 55 countries, including the US, where it runs the YouGov/Economist polling tracker, but it is British-owned.
How does YouGov MRP polling work?: MRP (Multilevel Regression and Post-stratification) combines a large national survey with local demographic data to estimate vote shares in individual constituencies or councils. YouGov's MRP correctly forecast the 2017 UK election when conventional polls failed.Source: YouGov methodology
Was YouGov's 2026 election forecast accurate?: YouGov's Senedd and Holyrood MRPs were broadly accurate. Its English council Reform projection of 2,342 seats proved 38% too high — Reform returned only 1,448 — the worst projection failure in modern UK polling.Source: UK elections 2026 results
What did YouGov polling show about UK public opinion on US bases?: In March 2026, YouGov found 58% of Britons oppose US use of UK military bases for strikes on Iran, with only 21% in support. The data was cited in the Commons debate on UK involvement in the Iran conflict.Source: event
Who founded YouGov and when was it set up?: YouGov was founded in 2000 by Nadhim Zahawi (later a UK Government minister) and Stephan Shakespeare. It pioneered internet-based panel polling and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Background

YouGov is a British internet-based market research and data analytics company, founded in 2000 by Nadhim Zahawi and Stephan Shakespeare. Headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: YOU), it pioneered online panel polling across more than 55 countries. Its MRP (Multilevel Regression and Post-stratification) model gained widespread credibility after correctly forecasting the 2017 UK general election when most rivals failed, and is now the primary tool for UK sub-regional electoral forecasting.

YouGov's reach extends beyond UK politics. In March 2026, it published polling showing 58% of Britons oppose US use of UK bases for strikes on Iran, with only 21% in support, data that fed directly into the parliamentary debate in which Keir Starmer rejected calls for a formal vote on UK involvement. Its YouGov/Economist tracker placed Trump's economic approval at 35% in late March 2026, contributing to US midterms outlook analysis. MRP and sub-regional modelling are now a standard newsroom input in the UK, US, and Australia.

In the May 2026 UK election cycle, YouGov's MRP outputs were the most-watched electoral intelligence across three simultaneous contests. Its final Senedd MRP projected Plaid Cymru 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 12 — placing Welsh Labour at its lowest-ever projected share since 1906. Its final Holyrood MRP projected SNP 62, Reform 19, Scottish Labour 17, Scottish Greens 16. Its 4-5 May Westminster tracker put Reform at 25%, Labour at 18% — the first national tracker to place Reform clearly ahead of all parties. The Reform English council projection of 2,342 seats proved 38% too high, the worst projection failure in modern UK polling.