The article is devoted to the little-studied page of the formation of electoral surveys in pre-revolutionary Russia: the analysis of electoral practices in several foreign countries undertaken in the early twentieth century by R. Blank, P. Berliner, P. Milyukov. The conclusion is made about the application of sociological approach to understanding the role of the institute of democratic elections in the political life of that time, about the interactions of electoral actors on the basis of mutual expectations.