Politics

Survey Research [Polling] Wins Championships (and Elections)

We have officially passed the halfway mark in 2018 midterm primary season. As campaigns in 30 states move their focus to the general election, strategies must change as well. Every campaign’s strategy has three core components: money, media, and message. While all three components are intertwined, the third component – messaging – undergoes the greatest change. While […]

Poll Script Writing 101: What Questions Should You Be Asking?

They key to asking the right questions is to ask questions. Let me rephrase that. The key to having questions in your political survey script (also known as an instrument) that will give you the information you want is to first ask yourself some questions. 1) Why am I doing a poll? This may seem […]

ALSen Polling Wasn’t All Wrong; How We Did It Differently

Election Day in Alabama has passed. Thank GOODNESS! The yard signs are disappearing; the headlines (believe it or not) are fading; and Roy Moore’s horse, Sassy, is back in the barn. Republican strategists are left to make sense of the chaos and explain how things went so horribly wrong on December 12th – or really […]

A Note of Thanksgiving from the Cygnal Team

There’s something about the holiday season that makes people particularly reflective. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but life seems a little sweeter when viewed through the pumpkin-spice-colored lenses of Thanksgivings past. It’s the perfect pause at the end of the year, where you worry less about where you’re going, and give thanks […]

What to Do When Your Hair Is on Fire

You’re watching football on a crisp fall afternoon when suddenly your phone explodes. Tweets, texts, and telephone calls start pouring in. You change the channel on your TV to Fox or CNN (or maybe MSNBC if you’re into Rachel Maddow’s show, I guess), and your jaw drops to the floor as you hear the words […]

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Crafting messaging for your public affairs campaign can be a pretty daunting challenge. There are approximately 172,000 words in the English language, and you know that some combination of those is going to get you your desired results. So how do you choose the best words for your messaging? The answer is…well…simple. Stupid Words You […]

Cygnal/L2 Poll for AL US Senate Runoff: Moore Leads, Jones Undefined

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Two months out from the general special election, a poll by Cygnal, a Montgomery, Ala.-based polling and communication firm, and L2, a national nonpartisan voter data and analytics provider, shows Republican Roy Moore ahead of Democrat Doug Jones by 8 points – the same margin Moore held over Strange exactly two months […]

Cygnal Strikes Again: Correctly Predicts Moore-Strange US Senate Duel

It seems like only yesterday the politicos and public were saying: “There’s no way he can win.” They said, “His opponent has an enormous ‘war chest,’ he plays fast and loose with the rules, and he’s too much of an outsider.” And just like our President, Roy Moore rode in on his populist horse to […]

How to Avoid Unrealistic Budget Expectations

Building a winning campaign infrastructure is like painting a masterpiece. In the same way artists have to use contrast, focus, light, and movement, consultants must assemble a cohesive team of vendors and staff that can work to make their vision come to life. The issue is that most candidates want Van-Gogh results on a high-school-art-competition […]

Tips for Consumers of Political Polling

It’s been no secret that polling is under fire. Heck, I’ve written about the topic a handful of times myself. Several peers have written in depth articles defending what we do. Still, the story continues to be debated in the public square. Clients still have questions that let me know they are concerned about today’s […]

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