Survation
Survation is a London-based market research and opinion polling company best known for its political surveys, which are regularly published by major British newspapers and broadcasters. Founded in 2010 by chief executive Damian Lyons Lowe, the company conducts both telephone and online polling and is a member of the British Polling Council and a company partner of the Market Research Society. Its voting intention polls and topical surveys have been commissioned by titles including the Daily Mirror, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mail and Good Morning Britain, and the company has built a reputation for accuracy at several landmark electoral events.
Overview
Survation was incorporated on 2 February 2010 as a private limited company, entering a UK polling market then dominated by long-established names such as Ipsos MORI, ICM and YouGov. From the outset it positioned itself as a full-service polling agency, offering both telephone and online fieldwork, and it quickly won media clients that gave its polls a high public profile.
The company's chief executive is Damian Lyons Lowe, the founder, who also serves as Survation's representative and member on the British Polling Council. The company presents itself as one of the most active pollsters in the British market, publishing frequent voting intention trackers alongside one-off polls on social and political issues.
Foundation and leadership
Damian Lyons Lowe founded Survation in 2010, incorporating the company in February of that year. Lyons Lowe has remained chief executive since, steering the firm through the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 2015 and 2017 general elections, the 2016 EU referendum and the 2019 and 2024 general elections.
The company operates from London, with press and research contact lines published openly — a reflection of the transparency requirements of the polling industry. For press enquiries the company lists its London telephone number and a dedicated media email address, while commissioned research is handled through its research team.
Industry accreditation
Survation is a member of the British Polling Council, the association of market research companies whose opinion polls are regularly published or broadcast in the UK, founded in 2004 after the polling failures of the 1992 general election. The council promotes disclosure of the technical details of published polls so that consumers can judge their reliability and validity.
The company is also a company partner of the Market Research Society and states that it abides by the rules of both bodies. Survation's published polls carry the council's standard statement on sources of error, noting that on the basis of the historical record there is a 9 in 10 chance that a party's true support lies within four points of the poll estimate, and a 2 in 3 chance it lies within two points.
Polling methodology
Survation uses both online and telephone fieldwork methods. Its online polls interview adults aged 18 and over across the UK, using demographic targeting aligned to the most recent census figures, with data weighted to be representative of the British adult population. Its telephone polls use random digit dialling and similar weighting approaches.
For each published poll the company makes available summary documents, full data tables with methodology and every question asked, typically in spreadsheet form, and sometimes animated summaries of key results. Technical details are published within the British Polling Council's disclosure windows — normally within two working days of initial publication, and within 18 hours during the final four weeks before polling day.
Media partnerships
Survation has conducted regular polls on UK voting intention and political issues for the Daily Mirror and the Mail on Sunday since 2011. Its work for the Mail on Sunday has formed the basis of major newspaper stories, including the reaction to the 2012 "Omnishambles" budget, reports on Scottish businesses' relocation plans in the event of Scottish independence, and the first published poll of the 2014 European Parliament elections.
The company also polls for the Daily Mail and its associated titles, and during the 2017 general election campaign it conducted polls for ITV's Good Morning Britain. Its headline polls — on Westminster voting intention, party leadership ratings and topical issues — are routinely picked up across the national media and by political commentators.
The 2014 Scottish independence referendum
Survation was one of the most active and closely watched pollsters of the Scottish independence referendum campaign. Its final telephone poll, conducted on 16 and 17 September 2014 for the Daily Record, showed a six-point lead for "No" at 53 per cent, within the expected margin of error. After excluding undecided voters the poll pointed to 47 per cent for "Yes" and 53 per cent for "No", against the final result of 55 per cent for "No".
The company's final predictions aligned with those of other firms using telephone methods, including Ipsos MORI. While all polls slightly underestimated the strength of the "No" vote, Survation's was considered among the most reliable. In 2017 the company asserted that its final telephone poll before the referendum had been the polling industry's most accurate, edging out Ipsos MORI's similarly accurate result by a single decimal point.
The 2015 general election
The 2015 general election was a bruising one for the British polling industry: almost every published poll pointed to a hung parliament, yet the Conservatives won an outright majority. Survation later claimed that its own final poll before the election had been exceptionally accurate — unlike most of its rivals — but that the result had been suppressed by the chief executive through fear of publishing an outlier.
The episode became one of the most talked-about moments of the industry's post-election reckoning, which led to the British Polling Council's inquiry into polling error. Whether or not the suppressed poll would have changed the narrative, the claim cemented Survation's reputation as a company willing to defend its methodology in public.
The 2016 EU referendum
At the 2016 EU referendum Survation again performed relatively well. Its final telephone poll, conducted on 20 June 2016 with a sample of 1,003, put Remain on 51 and Leave on 49 — an error of two points on Remain against the actual result of 48 to 52. The British Polling Council's post-referendum table showed an average error of 4.3 points across member companies, with Survation among the closest.
In the aftermath, the council noted that members would be under an obligation to investigate why polls had tended to overestimate support for Remain. Survation's relatively small error — compared with some rivals that were six or seven points out — reinforced its standing as one of the more accurate telephone pollsters in the country.
Recent polling work
Survation has continued to publish frequent political polling into the 2020s. Its polls regularly cover Westminster voting intention, party leadership approval and the government's handling of issues such as the NHS, the economy, education, national security and immigration. A typical recent release — an online poll of 1,974 adults conducted over 3 to 5 October 2026 — put Labour on 30 per cent and Reform UK on 24 per cent, with detailed tracking of leader favourability and net confidence in the government's handling of major policy areas.
The company also runs a paid consumer opinion panel, through which members of the public can register to take part in its research work, earning points convertible to cash. This panel forms part of the infrastructure behind its online fieldwork.
Services and commissioning
Beyond media polling, Survation offers commissioned research for commercial, political and voluntary-sector clients, covering voting intention, brand and reputation tracking, message testing and social research. Prospective clients are invited to contact its research team by telephone or email to discuss telephone or online fieldwork.
For journalists, the company's value lies in its speed and transparency: rapid-turnaround polls with full methodological disclosure, published under British Polling Council rules. That combination — media-friendly timing, open data tables and a track record of respectable accuracy at referendums and general elections — has kept Survation at the centre of British political polling for more than a decade and a half.
