The causes of the electoral result remain disputed. Richard Dawkins, posting on his site, wondered whether the religious criticisms of Harris had "caused Evan Harris to lose votes" or "gain them", noting that the answer to this would reflect the true extent of secular thought in Britain. However, post-election analysis in the "Oxford Mail" suggested that Harris' strident secular opinions appeared to have "alienated a sufficiently large percentage of the electorate to lose what was considered a relatively safe seat for the Liberal Democrats". It detailed that while the Liberal Democrats had nationally gained a 1% swing in their favour, in the Oxford West constituency there had been a 6.9% swing away from the party to the Conservatives. Although 2001 census figures show that Oxford had the 10th highest proportion of people in England and Wales who listed themselves as having no religion, the census also showed that 76.1% of those surveyed did not class themselves as having no religion.