Polling and Research
MARKET RESEARCH
At Smarter Campaigns, we use the most advanced statistical and analytical methods to discover what people need, want and believe. We construct personalized market segmentation to help identify the market trends that matter most to your corporation, campaign, or non-profit organization. All market research results are straightforward and can be easily translated into actionable items.
POLICY RESEARCH
Every candidate for office needs clear, well-developed policy positions on which to run. At some point, you will be expected to articulate the specific issues and policies you will support once you are in office, and it is essential that you are well-versed on these. Through consultation, we will determine the issues most critical to you. Following an exhaustive research process, we will work with you to develop your positions on these issues. We will help you to translate these issues into concise, memorable sound bites and sensible, defensible policy recommendations. Once this process is complete, we will also show you how to exploit the opposition's position (or lack thereof) on these issues.
FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups are one way to measure a campaign’s current standing and where it is going. During focus group research, a set of people are questioned about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes toward a candidate, his or her opponent, or a contentious issue. At Smarter Campaigns, we conduct our focus group research using a variety of methods, including in-person, teleconference and online groups, and ensure that data gathered is both reliable and useful to you.
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Opposition research helps you learn about your opponent’s history by seeking answers to questions like these: What have they done professionally? Have they ever said or done anything embarrassing? Who are their supporters? Where do their campaign contributions come from? To whom do they owe money? Do they dye their hair? Have they ever been arrested? Do they pay their taxes? Have they been married? Do they vote? By painting a full picture of your opponents, using public records, various news sources, legislative records and more, we can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses to determine where they are most vulnerable. This will help us maximize the contrasts between you and your opponents in order to increase your chances for victory.
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
Questionnaires can be an efficient way to gather large amounts of public opinion data, but if designed poorly, the data gathered can be meaningless. At Smarter Campaigns, we ensure the rigor of our questionnaire design methodology by using the latest biological, psychological and sociological research. We construct questions that produce reliable, useful data on any issue, candidate, product, or corporation, custom-tailored to your needs.
POLL ANALYSIS
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” When it comes to poll analysis, this famous saying rings particularly true: Anyone can collect data into “statistics.” Without the proper methodological approach and the correct analysis and interpretation, polling data can lead to false conclusions or, worse, poor decisions. Our polling analysts explain what’s on the minds of the public; we use the latest, non-biased, statistical methods to ensure that the insights gleaned are accurate, useful and actionable.
SELF-RESEARCH
Self-research provides us with a comprehensive picture of a candidate. This is done by carefully and confidentially digging through your past to gather a report of what we believe to be the biggest vulnerabilities of your candidacy. During this process, we often come upon hidden gems -- bits of information sometimes overlooked by the candidate -- that can help us develop a more compelling narrative. This is especially useful to draw a contrast with the opposition's personal history. For most campaigns, self research is even more critical than opposition research.
AD AND MESSAGE TESTING
After you’ve come up with an initial draft of an advertisement, it is often useful to test the ad in order to determine if it will be successful with desired target demographics. Using sophisticated methodology including focus groups and dial testing, we determine if your sending the right messages and if they are reaching the right people. We provide both quantitative and qualitative assessments of your advertisement’s effectiveness, and ensure the quality of our data in order to provide you with straight forward, easy to implement strategies to maximize the return on your advertising investment.
POLLING
Whether focused on an issue, candidate, product, or corporate image, a poll can provide invaluable insights into what you do best and where you might improve most. Polling, whether in person, online, by phone, or by mail, is a powerful tool for measuring public opinion. If conducted improperly, however, polling can yield inaccurate, unusable data. At Smarter Campaigns, our pollsters use a systematic, standardized approach to ensure that the polling data we gather is both useful and meets the highest standards of quality.