After the 2005 general election, Michael Ashcroft published Smell The Coffee: A Wake-Up Call For The Conservative Party, based on his extensive research on how the Conservative Party was seen by voters and how it needed to change if it was to win again. He was subsequently appointed the Party's Deputy Chairman with responsibility for campaigning and the Conservatives' private polling.

Since the last election – which he describes in Minority Verdict: The Conservative Party, The Voters And The 2010 Election – he has continued to conduct innovative opinion research, usually on political issues, which he publishes in full. His research is respected across the political spectrum, and often helps set the agenda. As Lord Ashcroft says: "However good their intentions, politicians inevitably become absorbed in their own preoccupations. If my research has a unifying theme, it is to remind politicians and parties what matters and what their priorities should be – the voters, and the things they care about".