Welcome to the website of the Winston Group, a strategy and survey research firm in Washington, D.C. Our site features new postings on our research on major issues, election analysis, economic analysis, videos from our Economic Discussion Points YouTube channel, charts such as Inflation/Consumer Price Index trending, and post election analyses. We hope you’ll find our resources useful, and be sure to check back for frequent updates.
Washington Never Returned To Pre-COVID Spending Levels
Washington is in an uproar over DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, but the inconvenient truth is that the federal government never returned to pre-COVID spending levels after the pandemic was over. Former President Biden announced COVID was over on September 18, 2022. On April 10, 2023, he signed the termination of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration. But according to Congressional Budget Office figures, the federal government continued to spend at the same emergency levels as they started doing in 2020.
Latest Posts
Roll Call: Setting the record straight on Biden’s spending
Education Recovery Scorecard: “Pockets of Success”
President Biden’s Final Score On Inflation
Do Voters Care About the Debt?
NAEP Was A Wakeup Call For Accountability. What’s Next?
Policy and Politics
7 Key Facts From the 2024 Election
It was a new day in Washington as Trump returned to the White House and Republicans have control of the Senate and House. In light of the inaugural events, here is a recap of seven must-know facts from the 2024 election: For more election insights, see our 2024 post election report.
The Battle For Free Speech Is On
Meta has announced a change to their content moderation policies, admitting previous policies have gone too far and fact checkers “have destroyed more trust than they created.” Mark Zuckerberg called the recent election a “cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.” Nowhere is the battle over free speech more intense than in higher education,
The Big Change For Congressional Republicans In 2025
For the past four years, Republicans’ main focus has been defining Democrats and Biden policies. The communications and policy environment is about to dramatically change in the new Congress as Republicans now have the White House, Senate and House. This means that the focus can no longer be on Biden
Washington Never Returned To Pre-COVID Spending Levels
Washington is in an uproar over DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, but the inconvenient truth is that the federal government never returned to pre-COVID spending levels after the pandemic was over. Former President Biden announced COVID was over on September 18, 2022. On April 10, 2023, he signed the termination of the COVID-19 national emergency
President Biden’s Final Score On Inflation
This morning’s inflation report came in hot with a 3% year over year Consumer Price Index. With this report being for the month of January, today’s result is the final score on inflation for the Biden presidency, putting the cumulative rate of inflation since the Biden inaugural month to the last
Do Voters Care About the Debt?
Congressional Republicans often think that voters don’t care about the national debt, but our research shows that voters care more than lawmakers may realize. This research consisted of a series of listening sessions with voters and a national survey (January 7-10) of 1200 registered voters. In a series of beliefs,
Education Recovery Scorecard: “Pockets of Success”
Less than two weeks after the 2024 NAEP scores were released — showing continued declines in reading and stagnation in math — the latest Education Recovery Scorecard was released, bearing similar news. The report, produced by the Center for Education Policy at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at
NAEP Was A Wakeup Call For Accountability. What’s Next?
As we covered in our January 29th post, the 2024 NAEP data have just been released, showing that students struggled with reading, even more so than math. One of the main takeaways from the 2024 data is that the drops cannot all be attributed to the lingering effects of Covid.
Roll Call: The nation’s report card hits crisis level
The Winston Group’s David Winston writes about the latest NAEP scores in today’s Roll Call: The NAEP results are beyond sobering. The tests found that 40 percent of the country’s fourth graders and a third of eighth graders were “below basic” in reading, incapable of understanding even the central idea
Roll Call: Setting the record straight on Biden’s spending
The Winston Group’s David Winston writes in today’s Roll Call about how much Presidents Trump and Biden spent during their terms, and who is to blame for the near-historic inflation levels. The scale of spending was clearly a central concern about inflation. Ask almost anyone in Washington how much money
Roll Call: Trump’s big bang approach to Day 1
In today’s Roll Call, The Winston Group’s David Winston covers Trump’s first day in office. Beyond the pardons, as Inauguration Day progressed, the contrast between the policies of Biden and Trump was astonishingly obvious. After four years of bad decisions, Trump sent a clear signal that a new sheriff was
Daily Caller: Here Are The 7 Reasons Why Trump Is Getting Inaugurated
The Winston Group’s David Winston and Myra Miller in today’s Daily Caller on the seven reasons Trump is getting inaugurated. It is a new day in Washington as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House and Republicans have control of the Senate and House. As prep for your upcoming