It used to be both polite and practical to wait your turn to run for Congress in Massachusetts. Party leaders and insiders frowned on impertinence, and the very occasional primary […]
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
Who’s looking at a Markey-Kennedy race?
AN ENIGMATIC TELEPHONE SURVEY raised eyebrows among the Massachusetts political establishment this week. The poll, first reported by POLITICO Massachusetts, pitted Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III against incumbent Senator Ed Markey in […]
Posted inOpinion
Keeping politics in check
I’M AT CARRIE NATION, a prohibition-era themed Beacon Hill bar just down the street from the Massachusetts State House. On an island of tables floating between a legislative fundraiser in […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Shutdown sending Trump poll numbers down
“IF WE DON’T GET what we want … I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.” That, of course, was President Donald Trump in an unexpectedly […]
Posted inNews Analysis
For GOP, is the lesson be more like Charlie?
MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICANS suffered yet another electoral drubbing last week. Apart from Gov. Charlie Baker, every Republican candidate for statewide office got trounced by 24 to 46 point margins, based on […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Baker shows a Republican can do well in cities
ON HIS WAY to a landslide victory this week, Charlie Baker did something unusual for a Republican these days. He won urban areas, pulling 55 percent in the state’s 20 […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Charlie Baker and the incredible vanishing gender gap
Charlie Baker has bridged the gender gap. Nationally, Democratic women are fleeing the Republican party, threatening to swing a host of offices to Democrats, while men still tilt right. But […]
Posted inNews Analysis
The duel over Diehl
THE BIT MOMENT in this week’s gubernatorial debate between Governor Charlie Baker and his Democratic opponent Jay Gonzalez was not about being governor at all. It came down to a […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Surprise! Mass. Dems don’t want to abolish ICE
FOLLOW TWITTER TRENDS and cable news discussion, and you’d think the Democratic base was all-in on the idea of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Indeed, even national polling […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Late Registration
Massachusetts is home to more than one hundred colleges and universities and is the birthplace of American democracy. (Yes, that’s right, Eagles fans.) Nonetheless, the State Supreme Judicial Court recently […]
Posted inPolitics
Are you there, Massachusetts? It’s me, the primaries
Ahhh, the Fourth of July. When we come together to commemorate the beginning of the grand experiment that is America, celebrating government for and by the people. And in Massachusetts […]
Posted inGun ownership
Voters give green light on “red flag” gun law
Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo announced this week the House would take up the so-called “red flag” gun safety bill. The move ended months of speculation and growing pressure from […]
Posted inPolitics
Governor, Senate challengers struggle mightily in quest for attention
A half dozen would-be opponents to Senator Elizabeth Warren and Governor Charlie Baker are building their campaigns, crisscrossing Massachusetts, issuing press releases, hiring staff, making ads, and doing all the […]
Posted inPolitics
State follows voters’ lead on criminal justice
The Senate and House sent a sweeping criminal justice reform bill to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk this week. The Governor has not said how he will proceed. Details matter, and […]
Posted inOpinion
Down-ballot races heating up in Mass.
2018 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE YEAR of blockbuster matchups in Massachusetts. The de facto leaders of both parties are running for reelection, offering the prospect of bruising contests for […]
Posted inPolitics
Gomez leaves GOP, eyes independent bid against Warren
GABRIEL GOMEZ, who ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate as a Republican in 2013, has switched his party affiliation to independent and is not ruling out a run against Sen. […]
Posted inPolitics
Gomez still weighing Senate run
THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FIELD to take on US Sen. Elizabeth Warren next year now includes three candidates, but another contender is still eying the race. Businessman and former Navy SEAL […]
Posted inPolitics
NH voter fraud claims baffle Mass. officials
AT A MEETING of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on Tuesday, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner dismissed assertions by commission vice chair Kris Kobach that widespread […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
No popular options for repeal or replace
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” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]