“I’m not sure what a new normal looks like, because I think the Trump way of doing things and his nonpolitical approach has a certain appeal to voters, and that’s going to have to be a part of this new normal,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. Referring to Biden’s relatively staid Twitter feed, Newhouse […]
A poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies that was released Wednesday by the Conservative Energy Network shows voters want candidates who back clean energy development. According to the poll, 72% of voters think it is important for candidates to share their stance on clean energy issues and 68% say they would support a candidate who backs […]
Over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have carefully and thoroughly tracked publicly available public opinion research on a wide variety of issues relevant to both our work and our clients’ work. Drawing from multiple national surveys conducted over the past few weeks, this summary analyzes key data on the impact the outbreak continues […]
Washington Post: Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster, said his firm’s analysis of the election concluded that this was the smallest number of ticket-splitters since his firm began its measurement two decades ago. “We’ve stopped having any intersection [between the two sides],” he said. Read more about the divide in beliefs and values within our country […]
The poll of 601 adults in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield counties that was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and FrederickPolls shows that respondents ranked VCU first among six major employers in the Richmond area for economic impact, with 31% of those polled saying VCU has the most significant economic impact. Read more about how VCU […]
Since the founding of Public Opinion Strategies in 1991, the firm has conducted 10 million interviews, completed a total of 24,412 projects, and currently represents seven governors, 11 Senators, and 50 Members of Congress. Since 2004, along with its Democratic partner, the firm conducts The NBC/WSJ Poll and, since 2007, the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. […]
Why Public Opinion Strategies? At Public Opinion Strategies we have developed a culture and approach to winning. For nearly three decades, Public Opinion Strategies has been helping political candidates win tough campaigns, scoring hard-fought success in the public affairs arena for some of America’s leading corporations and associations, and giving our clients an advantage in […]
Robert Blizzard Glen Bolger Elizabeth Harrington Jim Hobart Patrick Lanne Jarrett Lewis Nicole McCleskey Bill McInturff George Nassar Neil Newhouse Micah Roberts Gene Ulm
Christopher Andrews Cassie Bauserman Torie Bolger Russ Brunner Brad Ebersole Mara Efimov Jackson Ellis John Harashinski Julia Hostutler Gabe Imber Luke Jackson Becky Kramer Daniel Luongo Karoline McGrail Linda G. Montfort, CPA Kyle Perel Gordon Price Jamie Wadovick Dave Wilson
Public Opinion Strategies offers a challenging and exciting work environment that provides employees and interns with the opportunity to learn about polling and public policy. What we offer full-time staff: Competitive salary Excellent opportunities for growth Medical, dental, life insurance, vision, and long-term disability Client acquisition bonuses Performance bonuses Paid vacation Training and tuition assistance […]
Since the founding of Public Opinion Strategies in 1991, the firm has conducted 10 million interviews, completed a total of 24,412 projects, and currently represents seven governors, 11 Senators, and 50 Members of Congress. Since 2004, along with its Democratic partner, the firm conducts The NBC/WSJ Poll and, since 2007, the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. The firm now has 12 partners, is the largest political and public affairs survey research firm, and among the 50 largest research firms in the country.
We created and today manage a vibrant public affairs practice, having completed more than 7,000 public affairs projects since our founding. The firm represents Fortune 500 companies and over 30 major trade associations and has become the premier health care research firm in the country, having completed more than 1700 focus groups and 1245 surveys on the topic of health care. The firm’s additional areas of expertise range from crisis and brand management, to education, finance, and technology as well as establishing a large research practice focused on the utility and energy sectors.
It’s what we bring to the table that not only makes our firm successful, but, more importantly, makes our clients successful:
Across both political and public affairs research, as our tag line suggests, we work with our clients “Turning Questions into Answers.”
Why Public Opinion Strategies?
At Public Opinion Strategies we have developed a culture and approach to winning. For nearly three decades, Public Opinion Strategies has been helping political candidates win tough campaigns, scoring hard-fought success in the public affairs arena for some of America’s leading corporations and associations, and giving our clients an advantage in their proceedings.
We go into the trenches with our clients to aggressively help them promote their interests. Our success is based on a hands-on model and our total commitment.
We work closely with our clients to develop research that is tailored to meet their specific needs utilizing innovative research methodologies and strategies. Each client and each case require a unique approach, and we are very responsive to the interests of every client.
And, we go beyond just providing the results of the research. Our winning culture is based on our integration as part of the team. A hallmark of our service, we offer strategic analysis and tactical recommendations based on our findings. We believe this provides our clients the winning edge.
Some of the elements of our approach that set us apart include:
Because we have decades of experience in the political and public policy arena, we have a wealth of understanding of some of the most important debates facing the country, ranging from medical malpractice to health care to deregulation issues. We are able to bridge the “policy gap,” which separates us from other researchers. Our policy background gives us a running start, as we are accustomed to delving into complex issues and making them palatable to our target audiences.
Our policy expertise also means we are constantly looking at key issues and topics facing the country. We stay ahead of the curve, and share our knowledge with our clients.
We have years of experience developing communications strategies and testing them empirically. But we know that there are two sides to every battle, and, thus, our approach to research takes into account arguments on both sides. We call it “combat message development.” We want to reflect the debate as closely as possible and therefore each side is given roughly equal weight. It helps our clients understand what they’re up against, how to rebut or challenge the opponent’s position, and what arguments on our side have the most impact when presented in context.
We understand the imperative of having data quickly to make critical decisions. We produce research to meet your timeline, not ours.
Public Opinion Strategies offers a challenging and exciting work environment that provides employees and interns with the opportunity to learn about polling and public policy.
What we offer full-time staff:
If you are looking for a new challenge please review our openings below.
Description:
Our use of telephone polling runs the gamut of research: nightly tracking surveys, monthly national omnibus surveys, single issue surveys, benchmarks, brushfire surveys, and business-to-business interviewing. We have the capabilities to conduct telephone surveys among respondents via their landline telephone or their cell phone. Our national surveys generally include at least 50-60% cell phone users.
Logistics:
Traditional telephone surveys enable researchers to reach a large and representative sample in a short time period, typically three to five days. Quotas are used to control for age, gender, region, and ethnicity across the sample as a whole to allow for only minimal weighting. They can be used to connect with a broad sample such as adults or registered voters, or narrower audiences such as moms of children age 18 or younger, small business owners, hunters, and business decision makers.
Applications:
Survey research is best used for obtaining a representative sample or broad audience when message confidentiality is a premium.
Description:
Roughly once a month, Public Opinion Strategies conducts a national survey of 800 registered voters called a national omnibus. These surveys have multiple clients and cover many different topic areas. Our omnibus product allows a client to obtain national data on key questions for less money than conducting their own individual national stand-alone survey. Most clients ask anywhere from one to twenty questions. Screener and standard demographic questions are included in the cost.
Logistics:
Omnibus surveys are generally in the field for four to five days. This is NOT a panel survey in which we re-contact the same respondents. Our omnibus surveys use Registration Based Sampling (RBS) methodology, which gives us the confidence that our samples are representative of the national registered voter population. This methodology also allows POS to use the “treasure trove” of data found on voter files, including a voter’s actual vote history and modeling scores developed by our voter file vendors. Quotas are used to control for age, gender, region, and ethnicity across the sample as a whole to allow for only minimal weighting. The omnibus includes 50-60% of interviews conducted via cell phones.
Applications:
Omnibus surveys are best used when a client has a narrow set of questions, flexible timing, and a need for a national representative quantitative sample.
Description:
Internet surveys allow for both close-ended and open-ended questions just as on a telephone survey, but in addition respondents can be presented with and evaluate advertising concepts or messaging components. We recommend using internet surveys when trying to complete:
Some examples of this work include:
Logistics:
Respondents are asked to log onto a website with secured password protection either via their desktop computer or mobile device. Depending on the audience being interviewed, an online study can be in the field for a few days or up to several weeks.
Applications:
Internet surveys are frequently used for targeted research purposes, particularly when trying to reach a very specific, difficult-to-reach constituency. Entirely customizable, online surveys offer clients the benefit of interviewing specific audiences not always possible by telephone (doctors, C-level executives, membership surveys, retail shoppers, etc.) Internet surveys are best used in researching specific, targeted audiences that would otherwise be difficult (and cost-prohibitive) to reach by telephone.
Description:
Completing research through respondents’ smartphones is an emerging methodology. Researchers are able to target by both constituency using preset “panels” and by geography using GPS locators. Mobile survey research does not yet comprise an entirely representative sample of the U.S. population (significantly younger); however, researchers can “blend” this methodology with other research techniques. There are some limitations in terms of length of questions and interviews when conducting surveys on mobile phones.
Like an online study, it is possible to test images, videos and other stimuli in a mobile study.
Geo-based mobile research utilizes a respondent panel that is integrated with a geo-locator. Through this technology, respondents can be contacted as they enter a specified area, such as a store or event. For example, this kind of research has been used by national retail chains to track customer experiences, feelings, and observations at thousands of locations across the country in real-time to improve customer experiences, advertising, and in-store displays.
Logistics:
Mobile panelists are invited to participate in the study through a “push” notification to their smartphone. Surveys can often be fielded within several hours; however, some targeted audiences may need several days or even a week to complete.
Applications:
Mobile research offers convenience (respondents can start and pause or chose when to take a survey), interaction (through cameras and web-access), the ability to reach specific audiences (moms, swing voters, customers of a specific store, event attendees) and speed (you can reach respondents anywhere, anytime).
Description:
In addition to traditional live interview polling, POS conducts IVR+ polling, which is traditional interactive voice response (IVR) research, with added quota and sample management. Like a traditional IVR survey, IVR+ uses pre-recorded questions that respondents answer using their telephone keypad. With the quota and sample management, our IVR+ survey option allows for strict age, gender, region, and ethnicity quotas to be put on our dialing to ensure that the poll is demographically sound and representative of the overall population. This is different than traditional IVR polling, where significant weighting is often done in order to create a representative sample.
We often supplement the IVR polls with live cell phone interviews, as IVR surveys can only be conducted on landlines. This ensures that voters who only use cell phones are included in the survey, which is particularly important since the number of wireless only households continues to grow each year.
Logistics:
IVR+ surveys are typically in the field between 2-4 days, depending on the sample size and geography. Since IVR+ surveys have a maximum length of about 5-6 minutes of questions, they are best for conducting shorter, brushfire surveys.
We have also utilized the IVR+ methodology to conduct “rapid response” one-night polling. Since much of the interviewing is conducted using IVR technology rather than live interviewers, it is possible to conduct large-scale surveys in a shorter timeframe.
Applications:
Applications for IVR+ surveys include:
Description:
Panel research involves recruiting a group of respondents who have agreed to take part in surveys over a set period of time. These respondents usually share an extensive amount of information about themselves and their households, which can be used for appropriate sample selection.
Census research involves attempting to survey an entire group of targeted respondents. If a client has a select list of targeted respondents they want to survey, we target all respondents and attempt to complete a full census of the audience.
Logistics:
In panel research, a respondent agrees to become a panel member. The member is defined by any number of variables — age, income, type of work, purchasing/decision-making power, etc. Even psychographic characteristics may be used in member selection. Members participate over time in a series of research studies covering either one or multiple topics. A census can be accomplished in the same manner, in which respondents participate over time in a series of surveys.
Applications:
This research is particularly useful for longitudinal studies where researchers want to track ideas and views over a set period of time among a specific audience and when you want a full view of how a specific target population feels about an issue.
Description:
Some target audiences can be difficult to survey by telephone or internet, so we recommend using a mail survey to reach them.
Logistics:
An initial mailing is sent out that usually includes a cover letter from the client inviting the member/respondent to take the survey and explaining the purpose of the study, a survey questionnaire, and a postage-paid return envelope. Reminder postcards are also sent out periodically encouraging respondents to fill out the survey and return it. To help increase response rates and to offer members/respondents another method of completing the survey, we often include a web address in the initial survey and on the reminder postcard so respondents can go online to take the survey if it is more convenient for them, or in case they have misplaced their questionnaire.
Applications:
Mail surveys are typically used for membership studies or customer surveys in cases where the client does not have email or phone contact information for respondents. They can also be used to contact difficult-to-reach audiences.
