Target Point

Straw Polls – Is There A Better Way?

This last weekend over 2,000 GOP activists gathered on Michigan’s historic Mackinac Island for 3 days of speeches, receptions, workshops, dinners, and seminars sponsored by the Michigan Republican Party.  This was a terrific event which featured both state and national Republican and media luminaries including John Engler, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Eric Cantor, Charlie Crist, Air Fleisher, and John Fund. 

The event also included a Straw Poll asking conference attendees their preferences for Governor and other state offices...

Regulation Rules

According to Gallup’s latest numbers, Americans believe that government is overreaching in its regulation of business and industry.  These numbers suggest that tolerance for the left’s regulatory rule is assuaging.

The overall increase in the number of Americans who believe that there is too much government regulation of business and industry from last year was seven percent, but what is particularly interesting is...

The Right Idea

TargetPoint Vice President and Director of Research Alex Lundry recently appeared on The Winston Group's video podcast "The Right Idea" hosted by Kristen Soltis. 

Alex, joined by media consultant Craig Kirchoff of National Media, talked to Kristen about MicroTargeting in the first episode, followed by a discussion on the importance of design to political campaigns in the second.  Enjoy!

The Right Idea, Episode 23 - Microtargeting from The Winston Group on Vimeo.

Everybody Votes: Polling as Gaming

In the same way that gaming is revolutionizing other fields (medicine, education, and the military, to name just a few), it is also poised to affect the polling community.  Or at least, that’s what my recent experience with my family’s new Nintendo Wii gaming console has lead me to believe. 

The “Everybody Votes” channel invites Wii owners to participate in the polling process, both as respondent and quasi-analyst...

Goodbye to a State Fair

Thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein and to an influx of politicians every four years a great deal of attention is heaped on the Iowa State Fair.  It is a grand tradition and one of the more interesting events on the political calendar.  Once a place to merely display the crowned hogs and prize pumpkins, state fairs have become a unique combination of carnival rides, agricultural oddities, beauty queens and gluttonous fare including everything imaginable fried or put on a stick or both.

This Labor Day though a brings a sad reminder that many of our grand traditions may be only a few poor decisions away from coming to a halt...