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Data for Progress
AbbreviationDFP
Formation2018; 6 years ago (2018)
TypePolicy think tank
Executive director
Danielle Deiseroth (interim; as of December 25, 2022)
Websitedataforprogress.org

Data for Progress (DFP) is an American left-wing think tank, polling firm, and political advocacy group. Until his dismissal in November 2022, the organization was headed by data scientist and activist Sean McElwee, who co-founded the organization in 2018.[1]

Affiliated with the progressive movement, Data for Progress has released reports and conducted polling on policy matters such as proposals for a Green New Deal.[2] Following the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States, Data for Progress has been described as an influential force among progressives in the Democratic Party.[3]

History and mission

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Data for Progress was founded in 2018 by political activist Sean McElwee, computational scientist Colin McAuliffe, and political scientist Jon Green.[4][5]

Data for Progress has been credited by The Atlantic for releasing one of the first reports on the Green New Deal.[2]

McElwee has stated that he envisions Data for Progress to serve as a "one-stop shop" for left-wing policy development, polling, and using media to gain public recognition for progressive goals.[6]

Data for Progress has become subject to criticism from some members of the American Left, who argue it is insufficiently critical of the party establishment.[7] Reception to the organization was noted in a 2021 article in The New York Times, which highlighted Data for Progress's unusually fast rise to influence:[7]

President Biden mentions it in private calls. The White House reads its work. And Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, teams up with its leaders for news conferences, blog posts and legislation. The embrace of Data for Progress by the highest ranks of the Democratic Party is a coming-of-age moment for a left-leaning polling firm and think tank that is barely three years old.

In 2021, vice president of policy & strategy Julian Brave NoiseCat was named to Time magazine's Time 100 Next list of emerging global leaders.[8]

Polling

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Data for Progress regularly conducts election polling, especially for primary elections. In the 2020 race for New York's 16th congressional district, Data for Progress was the sole public pollster to show challenger Jamaal Bowman lead incumbent Eliot Engel.[9][10] In 2021, the firm conducted polling that found a majority of Democratic voters in Arizona would favor a primary challenge to Senator Kyrsten Sinema due to her opposition to some of the Biden administration's measures in Congress.[11]

In the 2020 presidential cycle, Data for Progress's polling on viewers' response to the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was covered by the Washington Post.[12] Following the 2020 presidential election, the New York Times published a piece titled "Polling's Prognosis: Wary Conservatives and Eager Liberals" regarding Data for Progress's polling outfit. The article stated:

Data for Progress's results have been on the more accurate side among its peers, though it relies entirely on so-called nonprobability methods [that] haven't gained full acceptance as an industry standard for political polls, at least not yet.[13]

Data for Progress' polls in 2020 underestimated support for Republican candidates.[14]

During the 2022 midterms, their polls ended up overestimating Republican support.[14] The Tartan reported that the group's leader, Sean McElwee, was gambling on election results on the website PredictIt, raising ethical concerns.[15] McElwee left the firm in November 2022 amidst allegations of gambling on election results and artificially manipulating polling results to affect races that he had bet money on.[16] Additionally, it has been reported McElwee had inquired among his employees about having them participate in an illegal straw donor scheme.[16] Senior members of Data for Progress informed McElwee that they would resign en masse if he did not step down as the firm's executive director.[16]

Activities

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Policy areas that have been polled by Data for Progress include proposals to end the filibuster and expand voting rights,[17] environmental policy[18] (including the Green New Deal[19] and green housing[20]), proposals for Medicare for All,[21] pharmaceutical drug pricing,[22] capping credit card interest rates,[23] reallocating funds appropriated to the defense budget to domestic services,[24]

Federal personnel

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During and following the 2020 presidential election, Data for Progress pushed for the inclusion of progressives and the exclusion of moderates in a Biden administration. Julian Brave NoiseCat, the organization's vice president of policy & strategy, has been credited for leading a successful lobbying campaign to have Deb Haaland be appointed as Secretary of the Interior.[25]

State legislative elections

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In 2019, the New York Times profiled the organization's "Party Builder" ranking built in conjunction with Future Now Fund. This list served to quantify the support given by 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates to state legislative candidates in order to incentive further investment in these races.[26] 2019 also saw the launch of Data for Progress's "Fuck Gerry(mandering)" project in collaboration with Crooked Media, which served to assist Democrats running for the Virginia General Assembly.[27]

Blog

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Data for Progress's blog has been contributed to by political figures including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Lizza, Ryan; Bade, Rachael; Daniels, Eugene. "POLITICO Playbook: Inside the scramble to trace SBF's dirty money". POLITICO. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  2. ^ a b Meyer, Robinson (2019-11-15). "So Has the Green New Deal Won Yet?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  3. ^ Lerer, Lisa (2021-06-12). "Born on the Left, Data for Progress Comes of Age in Biden's Washington". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  4. ^ a b Godfrey, Elaine (2020-09-16). "The Progressive Activist Begging the Left to Stop Owning Itself". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  5. ^ "Co-founders". Data For Progress. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  6. ^ Brennan, Trip (2020-11-13). "Data for Progress Searches for Ethical Funding and Steady Growth". Blue Tent. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  7. ^ a b Lerer, Lisa (2021-06-12). "Born on the Left, Data for Progress Comes of Age in Biden's Washington". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  8. ^ "2021 Time100 Next: Julian Brave Noisecat". Time. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  9. ^ "Rep. Eliot Engel Goes on Defensive Against Jamaal Bowman". www.ny1.com. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  10. ^ Yuan, Jada. "How a middle school principal used the Ocasio-Cortez playbook against a 16-term incumbent". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  11. ^ Greenwood, Max (2021-07-20). "Poll: Two-thirds of AZ Democratic voters back primary challenge to Sinema over filibuster". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  12. ^ Byler, David (October 27, 2020). "The verdict is in: Joe Biden won the final presidential debate". The Washington Post.
  13. ^ Russonello, Giovanni (2021-05-06). "Polling's Prognosis: Wary Conservatives and Eager Liberals". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  14. ^ a b "On Polls, Pollsters, and Pundits". Archived from the original on 2022-11-16.
  15. ^ Rogers, Kaleigh (2023-02-23). "How The Cool Kid Of Progressive Politics Gambled It All Away". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  16. ^ a b c Freedlander, David (21 December 2022). "The Fall of the Progressive Boy King". Intelligencer. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  17. ^ Zhou, Li (2021-03-25). "Most people are open to changing the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation". Vox. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  18. ^ "Are Progressive Climate Policies a Political Poison Pill?". www.greentechmedia.com. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  19. ^ Carlock, Greg; McElwee, Sean (2018-09-18). "Why the Best New Deal Is a Green New Deal". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  20. ^ "The Case for Green Investments in Low-Income Communities and Communities of Color". Harvard Law & Policy Review. 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  21. ^ "Memo: Polling Medicare for All". Data For Progress. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  22. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (2020-02-24). "These are the popular ideas progressives can win with (and some unpopular ones to avoid)". Vox. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  23. ^ Levitz, Eric (2019-08-30). "Here Are 7 'Left Wing' Ideas (Almost) All Americans Can Get Behind". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  24. ^ "Voters Want Leaders to Put People Over the Pentagon, Poll Shows". Public Citizen. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  25. ^ Davenport, Coral (2021-02-22). "Fight Over Deb Haaland, First Native American Cabinet Pick, Reflects Partisan Divide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  26. ^ Stevens, Matt (2019-07-11). "Here's One List Where Kirsten Gillibrand Is Winning and Kamala Harris Is Tied With Marianne Williamson". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  27. ^ "The Team Behind "Pod Save America" Is Trying to Fight Gerrymandering". Teen Vogue. 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
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