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Profiles

Analyst Institute

The Analyst Institute (AI) is an American political data analysis company based in Washington, D.C.

History

Michael Pordhorzer, longtime political director of the AFL-CIO, began inviting other progressive analysts to that union group’s headquarters to share and discuss their research following President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. The attendees grew to a few dozen within a couple of years, and he eventually established the Analyst Institute as an official organization in 2007.[1]

2016 presidential election

In 2014, the institute worked with Vote.org founder Debra Cleaver to study whether text messages could be used to pressure participants to vote, finding that the method increased turnout slightly. Vote.org used the data to mass text millions of potential voters prior to the 2016 United States presidential election.[2]

Mind the Gap paid the institute $114,128 during the 2018, 2020 and 2022 United States election cycles.[3][4][5]

Clients

Groups and organizations that have hired the institute since 2012 include:[6]

  • ActBlue
  • America Votes Action Fund
  • Americans for Responsible Solutions
  • Civic Innovation USA
  • Color of Change
  • Democracy for America
  • Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  • Democratic National Committee (DNC)
  • Democratic Party of New Mexico
  • Democratic Party of Tennessee
  • Florida Homeowners Protection
  • For Our Future
  • Forward Majority Action
  • Friends of Democracy
  • Future Now Fund
  • House Majority PAC
  • Human Rights Campaign Equality Votes
  • Immigrant Voters Win
  • League of Conservation Voters (LCV)
  • Mayday PAC
  • Mind the Gap
  • MoveOn
  • NARAL Pro-Choice America
  • National Democratic Training Committee
  • NextGen Climate Action
  • Obama for America
  • PAC for America's Future
  • Planned Parenthood Votes
  • Progressive Change Campaign Committee
  • Progressive Turnout Project
  • Service Employees International Union
  • Sierra Club
  • Swing Left
  • Win Justice PAC
  • Women Vote!

  1. Issenberg, S. (2010, October 29). Nudge the Vote. The New York Times. http://archive.today/2022.12.24-014019/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/magazine/31politics-t.html?ref=magazine ↩︎

  2. Fitts, A. S. (2016, November 2). This Y Combinator-Backed Company Has a Secret Weapon to Sway the Election. Backchannel. https://web.archive.org/web/20161116011030/https://backchannel.com/the-simple-secret-weapon-that-could-change-elections-9e51f95038df?gi=7203a739341e ↩︎

  3. Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2022. (2022, December 23). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221224011743/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00683649&tab=expenditures ↩︎

  4. Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2020. (2022, December 23). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221223085848/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00683649&tab=expenditures ↩︎

  5. Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2018. (2022, November 17). OpenSecrets. https://archive.vn/QUkbS ↩︎

  6. Vendor/Recipient Profile: Analyst Institute. (2022, October 23). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221224054143/https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/vendor?cycle=2022&vendor=Analyst+Institute&year=2018 ↩︎