Neil Newhouse is a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public affairs research firm which has been described by the New York Times as “the leading Republican polling company” in the country. Neil has twice been named “Pollster of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants, most recently for his work on Scott Brown’s winning Senate campaign in Massachusetts.
In the 2012 election cycle, Neil is the lead pollster for Romney for President, and has been working on the Romney campaign for the past two years.
- In the 2002 election, Neil was the pollster for Gov. Romney’s successful campaign for Massachusetts Governor.
- In the 2004 election, Neil handled the ad-testing research for President Bush’s re-election campaign.
- In the 2008 election, Neil was the Republican partner in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
- In the 2010 election, Neil was the pollster for successful US Senate campaigns of Scott Brown (MA) and Rand Paul (KY) as well as a dozen members of Congress.
Neil has worked in public opinion research for more than 25 years, directed the research for thousands of individual projects and has experience in every aspect of opinion research. During the 2008 election cycle, Neil was the Republican partner for the NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls and he has twice been named as one of the “Money 20″ political consultants in the country who make a difference.
Neil has won praise from both sides of the political aisle, having worked on dozens of successful Gubernatorial, Senate and Congressional campaigns. He was described by Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell as “one of the most respected pollsters in the country” and recruited by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to provide polling and strategic guidance in his successful 2006 Independent bid for US Senate in Connecticut.
Neil is often quoted in major national publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The New York Times and The Washington Post, and has appeared as a frequent “talking head” on the nightly news regarding politics and campaigns. He also appeared on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.”
Neil also has extensive international experience, having completed various research projects in Australia, Jamaica, Kuwait, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela.
Prior to co-founding Public Opinion Strategies, Neil was executive Vice-President of The Wirthlin Group. Neil is originally from Kansas City, graduated from Duke University and attended graduate school at the University of Virginia. He currently lives in Alexandria with his wife and their two children.