Dean Debnam founded PPP after having over 30 years of experience in creating and growing businesses, as well as an active interest in politics and public policy. In 2001, he realized campaigns and advocacy organizations often allocated huge sums to survey research that could be better spent directly communicating with voters, and that the price of survey research kept smaller organizations from enjoying the benefits of measuring public opinion. In response to those inefficiencies in public policy surveys, Public Policy Polling was formed to measure and track public opinion in an affordable way.
Most PPP surveys are conducted through a combination of reaching voters by telephone and reaching them by text message in order to contact respondents in the way they would prefer to answer the poll. Online surveys and live calls to cell phones are also options for conducting surveys if preferred. These options allow us to poll quickly, cost-effectively, and accurately on a wide range of issues.
Public Policy Polling conducts surveys for politicians and political organizations, unions, consultants, and businesses.
PPP performs automated telephone surveys, with supplements from online surveys, texts and live calls to cell phones when appropriate. This allows us to conduct polls more affordably and faster than most traditional pollsters.
We aim to use the most accurate methods for our samples, thus we base our samples on the voter registration databases of a given state in attempt to only survey those who cast ballots.
In order to provide accurate polling, we employ weighting to our data after our survey concludes to ensure that the demographic breakdown of a survey closely resembles the same breakdown for the population we are measuring.
Polling Analyst
Jim Williams is a longtime Triangle resident. He holds a BA from UNC Chapel Hill in political science and sociology. He has a rich research background, including work on several presidential and statewide political campaigns as well as time working in NC state government. At PPP, he helps drive poll creation and analysis, media communications, and client recruitment and relations.
Client Strategist
Russ is focused on helping candidates and causes work with PPP to get access to more data and research for less cost. He has been actively involved in campaign and issue politics throughout his career and has managed campaigns for North Carolina non-profits and candidates at the local, state and federal level. Previous work includes serving as the Director of a North Carolina donor alliance, Chief of Staff to Congressman Bob Etheridge, and working for the North Carolina Democratic Party. Russ is a graduate of NC State University, a Raleigh resident and an Eastern North Carolina enthusiast, where you will most often find him with his family.
Assistant Director
Katherine is a North Carolina native who holds a B.S. in Political Science from Appalachian State University and a M.S. in Comparative Public Policy from the University of Edinburgh. Katherine has volunteered with presidential and North Carolina legislative campaigns and was a leader in College Democrats. She previously worked in communications for an international reproductive health NGO before coming to PPP.
Polling Associate
Minami (Melody) was born in Japan and spent part of her childhood in Taiwan but considers Raleigh, NC her hometown. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill’s honors program with a double major in Political Science and Global Studies and a double minor in Hispanic Studies and Chinese. Before joining PPP, she worked with children with learning disabilities in the private education industry and conducted survey research for the CDC.
Polling Associate
Cesar was born and raised in Southern California, but has spent the last few years on the east coast where he earned his B.A. in Economics from Cornell University. Before joining PPP, he interned for a county executive campaign, where he conducted policy and opposition research. He has also volunteered as a mentor for high school students in his hometown.
Public Policy Polling welcomes part-time interns looking to learn more about polling, public opinion, and political marketing to apply for a summer or semester internship. Interns will work directly with our Client Strategist and will be responsible for building our clientele base. In addition, there will be opportunities to explore political research and poll analysis.
All current college students are eligible to apply. Since the internship is located in Raleigh, NC, you must be able to commute to our office. Interns will work part-time and earn a stipend at the end of the internship.
For more information or to submit a resume, send us an email!
Survey research is exempt from the federal Do Not Call List. However, PPP maintains its own internal Do Not Call List for people who wish not to be contacted again. Please send your phone number to information@publicpolicypolling.com, and we’ll be happy to place it on our list.
