Sir David Edgeworth Butler CBE FBA (17 October 1924 – 8 November 2022) was an English political scientist who specialised in psephology, the study of elections.
After the war, he resumed his studies at Oxford, then proceeded to Princeton University as a Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow from 1947 to 1948.
Between 1956 and 1957, Butler served as personal assistant to the British Ambassador to the United States.
His book, Political Change in Britain: Forces Shaping Electoral Choice (Macmillan, 1969), written with US political scientist Donald E. Stokes, brought modern American science treatments to the United Kingdom.
"[6] Notable lunch attendees included the Australian Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley.
(No book on the 1989 European elections was produced, due to Butler being in America for much of the early part of 1989.
(Butler also anonymously wrote various analytical chapters of the 'Times Guide to the House of Commons' series from the 1960s to the 1980s.)