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.
Three Things We Are Seeing In Our New Survey Data On Tariffs
Tariffs have rocked the markets this week, and we are nowhere close to a resolution. From our new survey for Winning the Issues (April 8-10), here are three things we are seeing so far: 1. The economic impact is widely felt. One of the rationales of the White House has been that Wall Street and the wealthy are feeling the impact much more than average middle class Americans. But our numbers show that the impact is widely
Latest Posts
The Education Crisis Trump Needs To Address
Tuesday’s Special Elections In Context
The Honesty Gap And The Importance Of NAEP
A Look At Federal Tax Revenues
Policy and Politics
Tuesday’s Special Elections In Context
As we watched Tuesday’s coverage of the special election, it seemed that the media was poised for the storyline that Democrats are back. The Wisconsin Supreme Court win was a plus for Democrats, but it is hardly a sign that Democrats’ problems are behind them. As Republicans have learned the
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,
Three Things We Are Seeing In Our New Survey Data On Tariffs
Tariffs have rocked the markets this week, and we are nowhere close to a resolution. From our new survey for Winning the Issues (April 8-10), here are three things we are seeing so far: 1. The economic impact is widely felt. One of the rationales of the White House has been that
A Look At Federal Tax Revenues
As the tax debate progresses, we will hear more about federal tax revenues, and the extent to which current levels of revenues are sufficient or if tax increases are needed. Democrats are saying that Republican tax cuts have deprived the federal government of needed revenues. Let’s take a look at
The Challenge Trump Still Faces On The Economy
The Winston Group’s David Winston is quoted in an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about President Trump’s address to Congress last night. Read the full piece here.
The Education Crisis Trump Needs To Address
The last several weeks have seen a flurry of actions from the Trump administration on education, including the cancellation of contracts and grants, the reduction in force at the Department of Education, and most recently, the executive order to eliminate the department. While many Trump supporters may be cheering his
The Hechinger Report: NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, was supposed to be safe. It’s not
Jill Barshay of The Hechinger Report cited the Winston Group’s David Winston’s recent column for Roll Call on the importance of the National Assessment of Education Progress: Other supporters of the test are making their case in the media. William Bennett, education secretary under former President Ronald Reagan, penned an open
The Honesty Gap And The Importance Of NAEP
Last month, the Collaborative for Student Success released its latest “Honesty Gap” analysis, looking at the differences between the shares proficient as measured by state standardized tests and the shares proficient on NAEP. What they found is that in many states, the gaps persist. “If we believe that NAEP is
Roll Call: The Democratic Party owns Joe Biden’s policy fails
The Winston Group’s David Winston in today’s Roll Call writes that Democrats should consider a different playbook moving forward. Many Democrats, especially those in the progressive wing, believe they lost because they didn’t go far left enough. They couldn’t be more wrong, and that thinking has put the Democratic Party
Protect NAEP: The Gold Standard For Education Accountability
In today’s Roll Call, The Winston Group’s David Winston writes about NAEP’s critical function in ensuring our education system is on track — and letting us know when it is not. There are reasonable arguments to be made about the size of the federal government and whether certain crucial programs
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