Robert Blizzard | Pinning Down the Persistent Pessimist

Wesley Donehue Podcast

🧐🎧Do people cast their votes based on intellectual decisions, or their emotions? Wesley and Robert delve deep into that question in this episode.
📍Pervasive Pessimism: Wesley and Robert dive into the widespread sense of pessimism in this nation and the sources of these negative rhetorics.

📆Origins of Skepticism: Robert and Wesley ponder the historical events which may have contributed to a loss of faith in institutions, including manufactured evidence and economic turmoil.

🌄A Changing Media Landscape: Wesley and Robert explore how watching cable television has turned from a familial gathering post to a toxic echo chamber.

📣From Policy to Personality: Robert and Wesley explore how candidates are increasingly judged based on relatability and personal traits rather than their policy prescriptions, influencing voter decision-making and electoral outcomes.

🗳️Emotional Appeals and Authenticity: Wesley and Robert unpack what motivates the American electorate to get out their vote - and why one former President is particularly effective at captivating his base time and time again.

🥊Counterpunch Ready: Robert shares an impactful campaign moment, highlighting the power of using research to win a campaign.

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As one of the top pollsters in the country, Robert Blizzard’s political experience includes polling for presidential campaigns, major races for U.S. Senate and Governor across the country, party committees and Super PACs, dozens of Republicans in Congress, and state legislative caucuses across America.

In the 2022 midterm election, Blizzard polled for two new Members of Congress, including for Dr. Rich McCormick (GA-6) who cruised in November after winning both a competitive Republican primary and run-off election against a Trump-endorsed candidate, and for an independent expenditure on behalf of Anthony D’Esposito (NY-4).

Blizzard helped guide the return of several other Republicans to Washington, including long-time clients Andy Barr (KY-6), Thomas Massie (KY-4), and Claudia Tenney (NY-24). Blizzard polled for SuperPAC efforts to re-elect both Senator Marco Rubio in Florida as well as Don Bacon (NE-2) in a seat Biden won in 2020.

In addition to his political expertise, Blizzard also regularly conducts corporate image, messaging, and crisis management research for national and state-based associations, public affairs groups, and Fortune 500 companies on topics related to criminal justice, consumer and customer strategy, education, energy, finance, health care, retail, and tech, among others.

Over the years, Blizzard has overseen extensive qualitative research on a variety of topics and issues around the country – from politics to public policy – moderating hundreds of focus groups and ad-testing groups both in-person and online. During the 2020 election cycle, Blizzard helped center-right clients better understand the key voting constituency of suburban voters by pioneering innovative qualitative research to better understand the attitudes of this swing voter cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A graduate of Clemson University, Blizzard lives in the Washington DC area with his wife and two sons. Prior to founding UpONE Insights, Blizzard spent nearly two decades at Public Opinion Strategies, working his way from intern to co-owner of the firm and top political pollster.