Excuse the pun, but the polling world is all “atwitter” about a University of Indiana professor’s claim that the social media platform Twitter will “undermine the polling industry” and that analyzing social media conversations will put campaign pollsters “out of work.” Rojas and his research partners studied the number of tweets of candidates’ names during […]
Steve Koczela
Steve Koczela is the President of The MassINC Polling Group, where he has grown the organization from its infancy to a nationally known and respected polling provider. During the 2014 election cycle, MPG conducted election polling for WBUR, the continuation of a three-year partnership. Koczela again led the endeavor, producing polls which came within one point of the margin in both the Massachusetts gubernatorial and U.S. Senate Elections. He was also lead writer for Poll Vault, WBUR’s political reporting section during the 2014 Election Cycle.
He has led survey research programs for the U.S. Department of State in Iraq, in key states for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and has conducted surveys and polls on behalf of many private corporations. Koczela brings a deep understanding of the foundations of public opinion and a wide ranging methodological expertise. He earned U.S. Department of State recognition for his leading edge work on sample evaluation in post conflict areas using geospatial systems.
Koczela is frequent guest on WBUR as well as many other news and talk programs in Massachusetts and elsewhere. His polling analysis is often cited in local, state, and national media outlets. He currently serves as President of the New England Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (NEAAPOR). Koczela holds a Master’s degree in Marketing Research from the University of Wisconsin and is a veteran of the war in Iraq.
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Gomez: No tea for me, thanks.
In the 2010 special US Senate election, enthusiasm from the nascent Tea Party movement helped propel Scott Brown past Martha Coakley. In the 2013 special election, the Tea Party is nowhere to be found, and Gabriel Gomez isn’t exactly turning over rocks looking for it. To be sure, there is a whiff of Tea Party-style […]
Posted inPolitics
Only some opinions count
PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS, done well, offer people an opportunity to speak to their leaders in an organized way. But the hunt for Electoral College votes tends to put all the focus of presidential campaigns on the opinions of residents in a handful of contested states, leaving no opportunity for residents of less […]
Posted inPolitics
A representative sample
as we approach election day, one can scarcely turn on the news or pick up a newspaper without reading about polls. Polls in the run-up to election day tend to focus on which politician is up and which one is down, what their “favorability rating” is, and where their support is coming from. The prevalence […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Does religion matter in the Brown-Warren race?
When the debate over the Blunt Amendment was underway, I received a number of calls from reporters looking for any insight on how the Massachusetts Senate race might be breaking by religion. Until the Blunt Amendment controversy, we had not been collecting religious affiliation in our demographic information, and neither were the other pollsters who […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
New Hampshire push poll law gets it wrong
Every four years, Granite State residents are bombarded with calls from political pollsters, gauging the state of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Then, but a few months later, the shelling begins again, with general election polls flying thick and fast. This is to say nothing of each side’s get-out-the-vote calls, and the various other calls which […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Chasing the middle class
the 2012 massachusetts Senate election is shaping up as a competition for the hearts and minds (and votes) of the Bay State middle class. Both US Sen. Scott Brown and his leading Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, are furiously spinning themselves as both members of and advocates for the middle class, while disparaging the other’s middle-class […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Mass. consumer confidence rebounds from 2011 lows
Consumer confidence in Massachusetts is on the rise, an indication that the state’s residents are starting to feel the benefits of the economic recovery and that incumbent politicians may have a positive story to point to as the 2012 campaign season heats up. Buoyed by a string of positive economic news, the MassINC Polling Group […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Poll data indicates challenges for Brown
This fall’s Senate election is shaping up more like a replay of the statewide election at the end of 2010 than the one at the beginning. US Sen. Scott Brown’s victory over Martha Coakley came courtesy of two dynamics which Charlie Baker was unable to repeat in his gubernatorial contest with Gov. Deval Patrick. First was […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Baker’s Brown deficit
Comparing last week’s election to the January special election for US Senate provides an interesting look at how Scott Brown was successful while Charlie Baker came up short. Baker’s loss was essentially a carbon copy of Brown’s victory when looking at men, Democrats, and Republicans; women and unenrolled voters broke more toward Gov. Deval Patrick and […]