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.
How Global Threats Have Affected The Importance Of US Alliances
Israel’s strikes on Iran have thrust foreign policy back into the issue spotlight. Foreign policy has proven to be a contentious issue among Republicans as some want stop America’s involvement in “endless wars“ while others believe the US must take a leadership role. From our latest numbers for Winning the Issues (June 12-14), the heightened foreign policy threats over the past year appear to have had an impact on how the electorate views alliances. Compared
Latest Posts
What Republicans Need To Win On Education
2026 Senate Race Spotlight: Michigan
Priorities For Federal Health Care Spending
A Brief History Of Tax Cuts
Policy and Politics
Perspectives On The 2024 Election And Looking Ahead To 2028
The Winston Group’s David Winston recently sat down with the Hoover Institution for their Matters of Politics and Policy podcast to discuss the 2024 election, the state of the two political parties, and what it means for 2028. From his remarks: What you’re looking at in ’28 is the two
2026 Senate Race Spotlight: Michigan
The 2026 Michigan Senate race is a high priority for Republicans, coming close in 2024 but falling short. Mike Rogers narrowly lost to Elissa Slotkin by only 19,000 votes. President Trump won the state but by a margin of about 80,000 votes. While Republican candidate quality in Senate races was
Democrats Worry About Men. Should They Worry More About Women?
Republicans are amused about the reports that Democrats have discussed a $20 million campaign among men called “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan.” An MSNBC commentator said “Democratic donors treating men like an endangered species on a remote island they need to study probably won’t rebuild trust.” In the 2024
A Brief History Of Tax Cuts
As the Senate moves forward with its version of the reconciliation bill, we can be sure that Democrats and the media will be characterizing Republican tax policy as “failed policies of the past.” As we saw throughout the legislative process for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, attacks
Tax Rates On The Wealthy: How High Is Too High?
In every tax debate, Democrats bring up the “fair share” argument but with no definition of fairness. As we found in research earlier in the year, people viewed the concept of “fair share” as more of an emotional argument to punish the wealthy rather than a specified rate. Two-thirds of
Expectations of Automation
As tariffs send shockwaves through the global economy, one of the areas of policy debate is about the future of manufacturing jobs. Tariff advocates want to see those jobs brought back to the US, while many tariff critics say many of those jobs could be automated so the negative impact
What Republicans Need To Win On Education
In the latest survey for Winning the Issues (June 12-14; 1,000 registered voters) we took another look at the party voters have more confidence in to handle education. Overall, voters prefer the Democratic Party by a margin of 14 (36-50 Republican Party-Democratic Party), little changed from the April survey, when
Another Look At The Brand Image Of Ivy League Universities
From the further pulling of federal grants to the executive order that bars students from coming to the US to study at Harvard, the Trump administration has focused more and more of its attention on higher education to the Ivy League institution. As we saw several weeks ago when we
NAEP Data Shows Black Charter Students In Large Cities Do Better
The last couple of weeks have been significant for school choice advocates. Late Sunday, the House Budget Committee passed the larger Republican tax bill, including a measure to create the first of its kind nationwide tax credit scholarship program for private school choice. Last week was also National Charter Schools
Senate Republicans now face four big challenges
The Winston Group’s David Winston in Roll Call on the four key challenges facing Republicans in the Senate and the need to focus on dynamic growth policies. With the country floundering under the weight of a $36 trillion debt, Congress seems mired in a monumental clash of economic viewpoints, and I’m
Republicans must ensure 2026 isn’t 2018
In today’s Roll Call, the Winston Group’s David Winston writes about how Republicans can make sure that the 2026 midterms aren’t a repeat of 2018. In the upcoming midterm election, Trump and Republicans have a second chance at the ring when it comes to the economy, if … If they
How much SALT is enough?
The Winston Group’s David Winston writes in today’s Roll Call about the debate over the state and local tax deduction, who benefits from it what it means for the overall reconciliation bill. But how many people itemize and take advantage of the SALT deduction that stands in the way of