President Biden is looking shaky in the Bay State, where just 47 percent now say they approve of the job he is doing as president — 46 percent say they disapprove.
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 inNews Analysis
Mass. poll indicates popularity of Democratic leaders sagging
POLL NUMBERS for key Democratic leaders are sagging between apathy and anonymity, according to a new poll of Massachusetts voters by the MassINC Polling Group. Favorability and reelection numbers are tepid at best. Just 43 percent of registered voters hold favorable views of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (38 percent unfavorable). For newly elected Gov. Maura Healey, […]
Posted inEducation
BPS parents concerned about safety at school
THE PANDEMIC has put the spotlight on the classroom, with national and statewide test figures showing that students have lost ground in academic subjects. As schools prepare for the new year, a new survey finds Boston Public School parents also have other concerns, including the emotional well-being and physical safety of their children and the […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Boston’s downtown at risk as workers stay remote
AMERICA IS DOTTED with remnants of economies of the past. Think gold rush towns, factory cities, rail towns, and coal towns, to name a few. All served their purpose, and either evolved into something else, or slowly collapsed. Now, the durability of remote and hybrid work poses an increasingly grave threat to Boston and other […]
Posted inPolitics
Who were the winners and losers (besides the candidates)?
WHO WON AND who lost yesterday? Of course, there are the candidates who put themselves and their ideas out there for voters. They all were winners for democracy, though the hard reality of election results will brand some winners and others losers. But beyond the candidates, every election brings another set of winners and losers. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Few giving up their jobs over vaccine mandates
VACCINATION MANDATES are sweeping across the country, both in the public and private sectors. They have produced a great deal of anxiety in public conversation, and polls in recent months suggested mandates would lead to mass firings and resignations among unvaccinated employees. But that doesn’t seem to have happened so far, and the divide over […]
Posted inOpinion
Why racial oversamples in polling make sense
A RECENT AND SUDDEN change to polling approaches has greatly expanded what we know about public opinion here in Massachusetts. The rapid expansion of “oversampling” happened during the nationwide upheaval following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. In essence, oversampling means collecting extra respondents from a relatively smaller group to ensure […]
Posted inEducation
Hesitancy over childhood vaccines could prolong education inequities
A NEW POLL of K-12 parents in Massachusetts foreshadows potentially huge gaps in childhood vaccination rates once an FDA approved vaccine is available for children. These gaps are reminiscent of what we are already seeing with adult vaccinations, but could pose specific challenges to K-12 schools down the road. Schools in Gateway Cities, those with […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Poll indicates Baker remains wildly popular
A NEW POLL from The MassINC Polling Group out this week finds Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker still riding high with 74 percent approval and just 20 percent disapproval among the state’s residents. Those numbers are basically unchanged from the 73 percent figure found in the last MPG statewide poll taken in December 2020. Over and […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Voters hold Beacon Hill in high esteem
POLITICS IS NOT all toxic. Here in Massachusetts, voters hold political leaders in very high regard. The state Legislature has climbed to 65 percent approval in a poll we released last week, the highest we have seen in our polling going back over a decade. Gov. Charlie Baker sports a 73 percent approval rating and […]