Welcome to the Winston Group, a strategic consulting and research firm in Washington, D.C. Our site offers in-depth analysis on key policy issues that inform decision-makers and industry leaders. Explore our site content that includes political and election analysis, insights into policy issues, inflation trends, and videos. We invite you to return often for timely, data-driven perspectives.

Key Numbers To Know Out Of Tuesday’s Elections

Tuesday was not a good night for Republicans, with the results indicating some vulnerabilities being similar to 2018. But the silver lining is that after this wakeup call, Republicans have a year to course correct. Here are the key numbers to know from the latest exit polls from Virginia and New Jersey. 1) Independents: In Virginia, independents made up 33 percent of the electorate. Spanberger won them by 19 points, (59-40), the same margin as Biden’s

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Policy and Politics

The Message To Republicans Out Of Last Week’s Elections

Last Tuesday’s elections did not go well for Republicans, and while there are several electoral takeaways, one of the most obvious is that cost of living is still a problem for voters. For several weeks, we have highlighted this concern in Discussion Points. Our 2024 post election survey showed Republicans

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Key Numbers To Know Out Of Tuesday’s Elections

Tuesday was not a good night for Republicans, with the results indicating some vulnerabilities being similar to 2018. But the silver lining is that after this wakeup call, Republicans have a year to course correct. Here are the key numbers to know from the latest exit polls from Virginia and

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The Expiration of Temporary ACA Subsidies: A Timeline

The government shutdown has dragged on for another week, as Democrats continue to hold out over the expiring ACA subsidies. In last Friday’s CNBC interview with Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, anchor Becky Quick asked Jeffries about the idea that “this is a setup, kind of, of your own creation.” Looking back at the

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Are Republicans Losing Focus On Inflation?

This week, two BLS inflation numbers for August were reported. The first one was the Producer Price Index coming in at 2.6%, down from 3.1% in July. Following that report, the White House statement from Karoline Leavitt was that “the latest PPI report shows there is no inflation.” The following day, the Consumer

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The Key Belief That Determines Support For The Tax Bill

Congress is back from the August work period, and we’ve just come out of the field with a new read on the Big Beautiful Bill. From our latest survey for Winning the Issues (August 30-September 1, 1000 registered voters), we found that many of the same educational challenges that existed

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The New Jobs and Wages Numbers

The new jobs report came out on Friday, along with new hourly and weekly earnings. In this here is both good and bad news, but both set up the next key economic measurement — the Consumer Price Index on August 12. First, the good news. Year over year weekly wages

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How Many 4th Graders Are Below NAEP Basic in Reading in Each State?

Last week, The Washington Post reported on efforts in Virginia to increase the cut scores on the Standards of Learning assessments. “The goal,” the paper reported, “is to align state exam standards with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a federal test used to measure career readiness and student achievement.” The effort is

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What Education Stories Get Covered In The Media?

How does the news media cover education? Are certain types of stories privileged over others in national coverage? These are some of the questions that the team at Bellwether set out to answer in their recent analysis of education news stories across the last year. Looking at over 1,500 stories

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What’s The Latest On Education Issue Handling?

One of the key metrics that the Winston Group watches in education is issue handling. Do voters have more confidence in Republicans or Democrats to handle the issue? Our recent piece for Education Next attempted to explain some of the recent contradictory findings about who voters prefer more. Today, we look

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