The Winston Group is a strategy and research firm dedicated to making ideas matter.

24
Jan

Politico: Fickle independents return to Barack Obama

by Lisa Mathias

In Sunday’s Politico, Alexander Burns addressed independents and their recent rebound to supporting Obama. The WG’s David Winston stressed that this isn’t something that may stick for the long run:

But Winston emphasized that while independent voters may be in the political center, they aren’t in the “ideological center,” meaning that even under the best of circumstances they’ll be a difficult group for Obama to hang onto.

“Independents are a center-right group,” he said. “That’s why Republicans have been able to put together majorities and that’s the challenge to the president.”

Read more: politico.com

04
Oct

CBS News: How Democrats Can Avoid a Blowout this November

by Lisa Mathias

Jeff Greenfield write about the potential “tsunami bearing down on Democrats” come this November, and offers strategy on how they can win in the upcoming election. The WG’s David Winston points out a very important group of voters that Democrats will need to connect with in order to avoid losing seats:

Independents, as Republican strategist David Winston notes, were the key to the GOP takeover of Congress in ’94 and the key to the Democratic takeover in ’06. Right now, they are leaning heavily toward the GOP, and if Democrats cannot win substantial numbers of them back, that thunderstorm will turn back into a tsunami.

To read the full article, go to cbs.com

13
Nov

Soltis on Young Voters and Independents at Pollster.com

by Kristen Soltis

At Pollster.com, I give my take (2000 words of it…fair warning ahead of time!) on the election and why the GOP had a bad night.  In short?  Independents, young voters, the economy.  There are serious long term implications for the party, particularly regarding young voters and the number that voted for Democrats compared to 2004.  

Kristen Soltis – The GOP Faces Long Term Challenge with Young Voters and Independents [Pollster.com]