Every day, all across America, small groups of strangers gather in nondescript rooms. Under the guidance of professional moderators, these strangers “focus” their feelings on paper plates, vodka advertisements, movie endings, and political sound bites. Microphones in the room record everything said for future review. … In her fascinating new […] Read more »
What the people of Alabama really think of Roy Moore
Twelve conservative voters gathered inside a Birmingham coffee house Thursday for a candid discussion about the Alabama senate race. CONT. Vice News Read more »
Strong economy boosts Trump among otherwise skeptical voters
In 2016, the U.S. economy served as a punching bag for then-candidate Donald Trump. Today, it has become a lifeline for an otherwise embattled presidency. … At a recent focus group that Peter Hart, a longtime Democratic pollster, conducted in Wilmington, N.C., for Emory University, even participants who voted for […] Read more »
Trump’s Tweets Are Hurting Him With the Voters He Needs Most
… Ten months into his presidency, the failure of any one single scandal to sink his administration has led some in the media to suggest that Trump is like “Teflon,” with the grime that would stick to (and ruin) other politicians simply slipping right off. But the numbers show that […] Read more »
Trump voters have buyer’s remorse in North Carolina focus group
… Veteran pollster Peter Hart organized the two-hour-and-15-minute session in Wilmington for Emory University. Five independents, four Republicans and three Democrats participated. … When Hart asked for one word or phrase to describe Trump, the group initially erupted in laughter. Only two of 12 said something positive (“bold” and “fights […] Read more »
Are Third Way’s Focus Groups Valid Research?
Much attention has been lavished on this Molly Ball piece in The Atlantic on the centrist think tank Third Way’s listening tour across America. In it, Ms. Ball subtly fillets the Third Way’s domestic anthropologists in their search for answers that already align with the group’s preconceptions about a fundamentally […] Read more »