Pollster Peter Hart conducted a focus group with a dozen voters — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — in Aurora, Colo., on Jan. 8 for the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Hart, director of APPC’s “Voices of the Voters,” convened the group just as a new, Republican-controlled Congress takes office and as candidates start emerging for the 2016 election. Hart has been conducting focus groups with voters for APPC as part of an ongoing examination of the views of the electorate since 2004.
“With a Democratic president and a Republican Congress, I’m afraid there is going to be more of a stalemate than anything else,” said one voter. Among other things, the Colorado voters expressed weariness with political dynasties, raising concerns about the prospective candidacies of Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton, though the name of Sen. Elizabeth Warren “struck a chord,” in the words of Washington Post correspondent Dan Balz.
PBS NewsHour reported on the session on Monday, Jan. 12.
News coverage of the focus group included:
- Bush, Clinton and the Fatigue Factor (National Journal, Jan. 12, 2015)
- What Focus Groups Tell Us (Or Don’t) About The Invisible Primary (Huffington Post, Jan. 12, 2015)
- NYT’s David Brooks: ‘Superhighway’ for Elizabeth Warren is ‘Wide Open’ (The Daily Caller, Jan. 11, 2015)
- A signal of distaste for dynasties bodes ill for Bush, Clinton (The Washington Post, Jan. 10, 2015)
- The Warren Commission (Slate, Jan. 9, 2015)
- Focus Group: Still Too Soon for Bullishness on Economic Recovery (NBC News, Jan. 9, 2015)
- Jeb and Hillary Have Some Work to Do, a Pollster Finds (The New York Times, Jan. 9, 2015)
- Pot Legalization Gets Thumbs Up in Colorado Focus Group (NBC News, Jan. 9, 2015)
- ‘More of the Same’ : Some on Both Sides Ready to Ditch Dynasty Candidates for 2016 (NBC News, Jan. 9, 2015)
