POLITICO Joins GW Battleground Poll

America’s leading political news source will partner with The Tarrance Group, Lake Research Partners and GW in the bipartisan survey.

September 9, 2010

Political journalism powerhouse POLITICO has joined the nationally recognized, bipartisan GW Battleground Poll.

Renamed the POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll, the joint venture will launch with a series of three surveys this fall related to the midterm elections. Results of the first poll will be released Sept. 16 and available on www.gwu.edu. Three additional polls will be conducted in 2011.

“This agreement will provide George Washington students and faculty with additional opportunities to work alongside some of the leading practitioners in the field,” says GW President Steven Knapp.

“The Battleground Poll has proven to accurately measure the political attitudes of Americans for many, many years,” says Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of POLITICO. “We are thrilled to work with a bipartisan stable of pollsters—and GW—to regularly take the pulse of voters on the defining issues of politics.”

Battleground is conducted by Republican pollster Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners. First conducted in 1991, the poll has accurately portrayed the political climate through four presidential and three midterm election cycles. The survey analysis includes the separate perspectives of top pollsters from both sides of the aisle—something unique in the industry.

George Washington became a sponsor of the Battleground Poll in 2004. GW also houses the data archive of survey results dating back more than two decades.

POLITICO’s team of editors and reporters will help design each poll. In addition, POLITICO will offer analysis and post the full poll results on POLITICO.com.

The GW Global Media Institute, affiliated with both the Graduate School of Political Management and the School of Media and Public Affairs, will serve as the university’s administrative home for the partnership. GW’s participation will be led by Michael Freedman, institute executive director and professor of media and public affairs, and Christopher Arterton, professor of political management and institute research fellow.