WELL, THAT DIDN’T take long. Less than 24 hours after conservative senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee joined Rand Paul and Susan Collins in opposing the Senate’s “repeal and replace” health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “repeal and delay” plan B crashed almost before it got off the ground. The public polling suggest […]
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 independence of independents
THE RANKS OF political independents continue to swell in Massachusetts, while the number of Democrats and Republicans remains roughly steady. Younger voters are choosing to remain “unenrolled” when they register to vote, rather than choosing a political party. The result is an increasing tilt toward the “unenrolled,” as they are called here, who now make […]
Posted inPolitics
It’s not my party, but I’ll vote if I want to
AN EVER-GROWING WAVE of unenrolled voters is slowly overtaking Massachusetts political parties. Old Massachusetts Democrats and Republicans are dying off and more and more of their grandkids are ditching the two-party structure. As the overall number of voters keeps rising, the percent of undeclared voters climbs, while the share of both Democrats and Republicans shrinks modestly. […]
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics
Dissecting Baker’s stance on millionaire’s tax
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER hasn’t formally said he’s against the so-called “Fair Share” ballot question, which would create a surtax on incomes over $1 million and earmark the proceeds for education and transportation. But the totality of his public comments and statements from his office certainly suggest more opposition than support. Neither he nor his office […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Political polarization complicates Watergate comparisons
THE CASCADING INVESTIGATIONS into relationships between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign and staff rings loudly with echoes of Watergate. Trump sometimes seems to invite the parallel, tweeting about taping White House meetings, and inviting reporters into an unannounced meeting with Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s secretary of state. “We’ve seen this movie before. It’s reaching Watergate size […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion, Politics
Repeal challenge: Republicans love Obamacare
REPUBLICANS APPEAR TO BE preparing another run at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The New York Times reported Tuesday that a new version of the wildly unpopular American Health Care Act may be in the works. The initial bill was pulled last month after it lost support on both the right and left […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Polling matters now more than ever
POLLING IS AN act of political resistance. It agglomerates the messy and inconvenient opinions of everyday people, kneads them into a whole, and forces them through the door into the air-conditioned echo chambers of political elites. This is not newly true, it’s just newly apparent. Right now, the polls are an awkward mess steaming on […]
Posted inTransportation
T made little progress reducing absenteeism in 2016
MBTA OFFICIALS MADE ALMOST NO PROGRESS last year in curbing employee absenteeism, in part because success in reducing one type of absence was offset by a surge in another area. T officials likened the situation to the whack-a-mole game, where you pound one area down and another pops up. Brian Shortsleeve, the T’s chief administrative […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Jackson shakes up the map
THAT BOSTON CONVERSATION about race is about to get super interesting, but perhaps not in the way Mayor Marty Walsh intended. Walsh, who announced the conversations late last year, will face off against one of the city’s more prominent African American elected officials (possibly among others) in his fall reelection bid. District 7 City Councilor […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, State House News Service
Baker misses key problem with Electoral College
AS PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP prepares to take office despite losing the popular vote, many Massachusetts voters may be less than thrilled about the Electoral College process But Gov. Charlie Baker describes himself as a “big fan” of the college. “I think the Electoral College preserves the importance and the status of small states,” Baker told […]