pollster

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Dr. Frank Luntz

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[Frank shows off the replica Oval Office he built in his home to the Hollywood Reporter.]

[Frank shows off the replica Oval Office he built in his home to the Hollywood Reporter.]

Sir David Frost called him “The Nostradamus of pollsters,” while Time magazine named him one of “50 of America’s most promising leaders aged 40 and under,” and Newsweek magazine identified him as No. 24 on their American Power Elite survey. He finished 87th in a Time magazine global poll of the “most influential people in the world.”  Yes, we’re talking about Frank Luntz, one of the most highly regarded communication professionals in America today. 

Widely considered a messaging master, Luntz is probably best known for his work conducting and analyzing focus groups, polls, surveys, and dial sessions, which he used to create his lists of “words to “use” and “words to lose” in political messaging. Thanks to his experience with the voting public, he won The Washington Post’s coveted “Crystal Ball” award for being the most accurate pundit. 


He has served as an election consultant and political pundit in more than two dozen countries, and his focus groups have become so influential that, following the PBS presidential debate, Barack Obama declared, “When Frank Luntz invites you to talk to his focus group, you talk to his focus group.” 

[Frank conducting a focus group during the 2016 Presidential election]

[Frank conducting a focus group during the 2016 Presidential election]


Media outlets routinely turn to Luntz for to understand the hopes and fears of Americans. His “instant response” focus group technique has been profiled on many shows, including 60 Minutes, and PBS’s Frontline. He has been a guest on virtually every talk show in America, including multiple appearances on Meet the Press, Nightline, The Today Show, Face the Nation, and Bill Maher. For more than a decade, Luntz was the “Focus Group Czar” for Fox News. 


One of four “Top Research Minds”...”the hottest pollster”... “pollster extraordinaire”...”the person you turn to for the truth”


Luntz is renowned for his ability to understand, explain, and communicate with the American public, particularly for his talent at developing effective talking points and messaging crafted to turn public opinion. From coining the phrase “tax relief” to emphasising positive terms like “energy efficiency’ over negative ones like “energy conservation” he has affected many political and policy issues by reframing the debate in terms that appeal to voters and the general public.

[Frank runs a focus group on 60 Minutes in 2016]

[Frank runs a focus group on 60 Minutes in 2016]

[Frank runs a socially distanced focus group, discussing the Presidential debate in 2020]

[Frank runs a socially distanced focus group, discussing the Presidential debate in 2020]

The increasingly divisive political atmosphere in recent years has inspired a change of heart in Luntz, who has moved away from partisan identification.

In 2019, he offered his messaging services to aid the cause for climate action, openly admitting that he considers his early position on climate change wrong. He promised to help the Democrats on the Senate climate committee, on the condition that they committed to nonpartisan solutions.  

“It doesn’t matter what you say, it only matters what people hear.” - Frank Luntz

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

Luntz earned distinction from an early age.  He was awarded the Thouron Fellowship and received his doctorate from Oxford University at the age of 25, after which he was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He also taught courses at Harvard University and George Washington University. Since 2018, he has taught two courses a year at NYU Abu Dhabi, and in 2021 is visiting professor for USC. 

In both 2011 and 2015, Luntz was the only non-journalist invited to host a debate of the GOP presidential contenders.  He also served for five years as a news analyst for CBS News, focusing on corporate and business communications, moving to ABC News in 2017.  He was a consultant to the NBC hit show The West Wing as well as the popular CBS drama Bull.    

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

[Frank runs a focus group with Muslim Americans for CBS This Morning]

Luntz is the author of three New York Times best sellers. Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say it’s What People Hear, explores the art and science of language creation.  His second book, What Americans Really Want … Really, addresses the private hopes, dreams and fears of the American people; it reached No. 18 on the bestseller list.  His most recent book, WIN, discusses how to use language to succeed in different aspects of everyday life, it reached No. 3 on The New York Times Business Best Seller List in its first month in print.  He has written about the power of language for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Times of London, The Washington Post, and Time.  

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Stanley Greenberg

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Stanley Greenberg

Political Strategist

Stanley Greenberg is a New York Times best-selling author and polling adviser to presidents, prime ministers and CEOs globally and right now, is conducting deep research in multiple countries. He was the senior pollster for President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and President Nelson Mandela. Greenberg's corporate clients include Boeing, BP, Microsoft, and other global companies.

He has been described as "the father of modern polling techniques," "the De Niro of all political consultants," and "an unrivaled international 'guru.'" Esquire Magazine named him one of the most important people of the 21st century. Republican pollster Frank Luntz says, "Stan Greenberg scares the hell out of me. He doesn't just have a finger on the people's pulse; he's got an IV injected into it. He's the best."

Greenger participated in the Post Vice Presidential Debate Panel on October 8, 2020. Greenberg was joined by Setmayer, Rosen and Percio to have an incredible conversation and to analyze the historic evening.

Rachel Bitecofer, PhD.

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Rachel Bitecofer

Rachel Bitecofer is an ace election forecaster and the founder of The Cycle a digital platform for news and politics. Forecaster, election analyst, pollster, and all-around data girl, Dr. Bitecofer is one of the most accurate, and exciting, experts in today's political arena. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, and other major media outlets.

Click here to go to The Cycle

Bitecofer was nationally recognized for predicting the results of the 2018 United States midterm elections more closely than most other forecasters. She first predicted that Democrats would pick up 42 seats in the House of Representatives in September 2018, revising her forecast to 45 seats in November,  just days before the election even as others were revising their estimates downwards. Democrats ultimately gained 41 seats in the House election, making her prediction one of the most accurate of that cycle. However, there were some errors in her Senate election forecast, where she incorrectly predicted that Democrat Bill Nelson would win reelection in Florida.

Dubbed the Election Whisperer, Bitecofer’s expertise in analysis and prediction has everyone coming to her for the inside scoop on what to expect before the election. Check out her interview on Real Time with Bill Maher where they discuss how she is able to make such accurate predictions and doing so in a hyper-polarized climate.

Bitecofer is also an author of The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election. This book explains the 2016 presidential election through a strategic focus. In the primaries both parties faced challenges from insurgent outsiders riding waves of populist fervor in the electorate, but only the Democrats were able to steer the nomination into the hands of their establishment favorite.

Dr. Bitecofer is famous for her main thesis that modern elections are not decided by the swing vote, but rather negative partisanship, which prioritizes defeating the other side over any specific policy objective. Under her theory, shifts in voter turnout decide everything, and the "swing" mainly comes from whether voters decide to vote at all rather than deciding who to vote for.

Rachel Bitecofer participated in Recap: Final Presidential Debate Panel on October 23, 2020. Bitecofer, Schoen and McFadden help unpacked what happened during the final Presidential debate.




Doug Schoen

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Doug Schoen

Political analyst

Douglas Schoen is an American political analyst, pollster, author, and commentator. He is currently a political analyst for Fox News. Schoen partnered with political strategist Mark Penn and Michael Berland in the firm of Penn, Schoen & Berland.

Doug Schoen has been one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for over thirty years. A founding partner and principal strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, he is widely recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling.

He has worked on the campaigns of many Democratic party candidates, including Ed Koch and Bill Clinton, as well as on behalf of corporate clients. He also worked for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and was a consultant for Jeff Greene in the 2010 Florida Senate election.

He is the author of multiple books, most recently publishing, The End of Democracy.  He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and various other newspaper and online publications. He is also a Fox News Contributor, making appearances on various news programs several times a week.

Schoen spoke at The Common Good in 2010: Election Insurrection: The Mid-Term Elections 2010.

Doug Schoen participated in Recap: Final Presidential Debate Panel on October 23, 2020. Schoen, Bitecofer and McFadden help unpacked what happened during the final Presidential debate. 

Twitter: @DouglasEShoen

Jefrey Pollock

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Jefrey Pollock

Founding Partner and President of Global Strategy Group

Jefrey Pollock is Founding Partner and President of Global Strategy Group (GSG), a premier public affairs, research and communications firm that the 2014 Holmes Report named Public Affairs Agency of the Year (Americas). He has twice been named “Pollster of the Year” (2015, 2011) by the bi-partisan American Association of Political Consultants; has been included in the Crain’s NY Business “40 under 40”; and was most recently named to City & State’s Albany Power 100. Jefrey also serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he has taught for over 15 years and from which he earned his Master’s degree.

Pollock spoke on the Midterm Elections Panel alongside Patrick Caddell, Carol E. Lee, Steve Kornacki, Jim McLaughlin, and Anna Greenberg, moderated by John Harwood, at The Common Good in 2014.

Twitter: @jefpollock

John Della Volpe

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John Della Volpe

Statistician

John Della Volpe is the Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, where he has led the institute’s polling initiatives on understanding American youth since 2000. He serves as President of the New England Association of Eisenhower Fellowships. In 2018, he received the Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award from the University of San Diego.

The Washington Post referred to Della Volpe as one of the world’s leading authorities on global sentiment, opinion and influence especially among millennials and in the age of digital and social media. In 2008, he received an Eisenhower Fellowship for which he traveled extensively throughout China, Hong Kong, and Korea (including a supervised day in North Korea) studying millennials an the use of the internet; in 2011, he was appointed to the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission on Media. Della Volpe is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company. He serves on the Board of Trustees of iCatholic Media and the Ad Club of Boston. Della Volpe appears regularly on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and his insights on millennials are found in national media outlets in the U.S. and abroad, including the Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Della Volpe attended The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards on May 21st, 2018, and spoke on the panel “Political Landscape: Future of Elections, Campaigns, & Parties” alongside Susan Del Percio, former Congressman David Jolly, and Bill Schneider, with moderator John Harwood.

Twitter: @DellaVolpe