# Data for Progress
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{{Short description|American policy think tank}}
{{infobox organization
| name = Data for Progress
| image = Data for Progress logo.png
| abbreviation = DFP
| formation = {{start date and age|2018}}
| type = [Policy](/source/Policy) [think tank](/source/think_tank)
| leader_title = Executive director
| leader_name = Danielle Deiseroth
| website = {{URL|dataforprogress.org}}
}}
'''Data for Progress''' ('''DFP''') is an American [left-wing](/source/left-wing) [think tank](/source/think_tank), [polling firm](/source/Opinion_poll), and [political advocacy group](/source/Advocacy_group). Until his dismissal in November 2022, the organization was headed by data scientist and activist [Sean McElwee](/source/Sean_McElwee), who co-founded the organization in 2018.[{{Cite web |last1=Lizza |first1=Ryan |last2=Bade |first2=Rachael |last3=Daniels |first3=Eugene |title=POLITICO Playbook: Inside the scramble to trace SBF's dirty money |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/12/22/inside-the-scramble-to-trace-sbfs-dirty-money-00075128 |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}]
Affiliated with the [progressive](/source/Progressivism_in_the_United_States) movement, Data for Progress has released reports and conducted polling on policy matters such as proposals for a [Green New Deal](/source/Green_New_Deal).[{{Cite web|last=Meyer|first=Robinson|date=2019-11-15|title=So Has the Green New Deal Won Yet?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/11/did-green-new-deal-win-look-after-one-year/602032/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}] Following the election of [Joe Biden](/source/Joe_Biden) as [President of the United States](/source/President_of_the_United_States), Data for Progress has been described as an influential force among progressives in the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)).[{{Cite news|last=Lerer|first=Lisa|date=2021-06-12|title=Born on the Left, Data for Progress Comes of Age in Biden's Washington|language=en-US|work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/us/politics/data-for-progress-democrats.html|access-date=2021-08-22|issn=0362-4331}}]
== History and mission ==
Data for Progress was founded in 2018 by [political activist](/source/political_activist) [Sean McElwee](/source/Sean_McElwee), [computational scientist](/source/computational_scientist) Colin McAuliffe, and [political scientist](/source/political_scientist) Jon Green.[{{Cite web|last=Godfrey|first=Elaine|date=2020-09-16|title=The Progressive Activist Begging the Left to Stop Owning Itself|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/joe-biden-sean-mcelwee-and-future-progressive-power/616213/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}][{{Cite web|title=Co-founders|url=https://www.dataforprogress.org/co-founders|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Data For Progress|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703105115/https://www.dataforprogress.org/co-founders/|url-status=dead}}]
Data for Progress has been credited by ''[The Atlantic](/source/The_Atlantic)'' for releasing one of the first reports on the [Green New Deal](/source/Green_New_Deal).[{{Cite web|last=Brennan|first=Trip|date=2020-11-13|title=Data for Progress Searches for Ethical Funding and Steady Growth|url=https://bluetent.us/api/content/6cf5b36c-db3d-11ea-98cd-1244d5f7c7c6/|access-date=2021-08-26|website=Blue Tent|language=en-us}}]
Data for Progress has become subject to criticism from some members of the [American Left](/source/American_Left), who argue it is insufficiently critical of the party establishment.[{{Cite news|last=Lerer|first=Lisa|date=2021-06-12|title=Born on the Left, Data for Progress Comes of Age in Biden's Washington|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/us/politics/data-for-progress-democrats.html|access-date=2021-08-22|issn=0362-4331}}] Reception to the organization was noted in a 2021 article in ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', which highlighted Data for Progress's unusually fast rise to influence:President Biden mentions it in private calls. The White House reads its work. And Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, teams up with its leaders for news conferences, blog posts and legislation. The embrace of Data for Progress by the highest ranks of the Democratic Party is a coming-of-age moment for a left-leaning polling firm and think tank that is barely three years old.
In 2021, vice president of policy & strategy [Julian Brave NoiseCat](/source/Julian_Brave_NoiseCat) was named to ''[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))'' magazine's [''Time'' 100 Next](/source/Time_100_Next) list of emerging global leaders.[{{Cite magazine|title=2021 Time100 Next: Julian Brave Noisecat|url=https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2021/5937627/julian-brave-noisecat/|access-date=2021-08-27|magazine=[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))}}]
== Polling ==
Data for Progress regularly conducts election polling, especially for [primary election](/source/Partisan_primary)s. In the [2020](/source/2020_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_New_York) race for [New York's 16th congressional district](/source/New_York's_16th_congressional_district), Data for Progress was the sole public pollster to show challenger [Jamaal Bowman](/source/Jamaal_Bowman) lead incumbent [Eliot Engel](/source/Eliot_Engel).[{{Cite web|title=Rep. Eliot Engel Goes on Defensive Against Jamaal Bowman|url=https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/06/20/in-final-days-of-competitive-primary--rep--eliot-engel-goes-on-defensive-against-jamaal-bowman|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.ny1.com|language=en}}][{{Cite news|last=Yuan|first=Jada|title=How a middle school principal used the Ocasio-Cortez playbook against a 16-term incumbent|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/how-a-middle-school-principal-used-the-ocasio-cortez-playbook-against-a-16-term-incumbent/2020/07/15/ea7e9eb8-c2f4-11ea-b178-bb7b05b94af1_story.html|access-date=2020-09-24|issn=0190-8286}}] In 2021, the firm conducted polling that found a majority of Democratic voters in [Arizona](/source/Arizona) would favor a primary challenge to Senator [Kyrsten Sinema](/source/Kyrsten_Sinema) due to her opposition to some of the Biden administration's measures in Congress.[{{Cite web|last=Greenwood|first=Max|date=2021-07-20|title=Poll: Two-thirds of AZ Democratic voters back primary challenge to Sinema over filibuster|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/563905-poll-two-thirds-of-az-democratic-primary-voters-would-back-primary|access-date=2021-08-25|website=TheHill|language=en}}]
In the [2020 presidential cycle](/source/2020_United_States_presidential_election), Data for Progress's polling on viewers' response to the [presidential debate](/source/United_States_presidential_election_debates) between [Donald Trump](/source/Donald_Trump) and [Joe Biden](/source/Joe_Biden) was covered by the ''[Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)''.[{{Cite news|last=Byler|first=David|date=October 27, 2020|title=The verdict is in: Joe Biden won the final presidential debate|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/27/verdict-is-joe-biden-won-final-presidential-debate/|access-date=|newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)}}] Following the 2020 presidential election, the ''New York Times'' published a piece titled "Polling's Prognosis: Wary Conservatives and Eager Liberals" regarding Data for Progress's polling outfit. The article stated:Data for Progress's results have been on the more accurate side among its peers, though it relies entirely on so-called [nonprobability](/source/Nonprobability_sampling) methods [that] haven't gained full acceptance as an industry standard for political polls, at least not yet.[{{Cite news|last=Russonello|first=Giovanni|date=2021-05-06|title=Polling's Prognosis: Wary Conservatives and Eager Liberals|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/us/politics/polling-democrats-republicans.html|access-date=2021-08-22|issn=0362-4331}}]
Data for Progress' polls in 2020 underestimated support for Republican candidates.[{{Cite web|url=http://thetartan.org/2022/11/14/pillbox/midterminterview|title=On Polls, Pollsters, and Pundits|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116002509/http://thetartan.org/2022/11/14/pillbox/midterminterview |archive-date=2022-11-16 }}]
During the 2022 midterms, their polls ended up overestimating Republican support.[{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Kaleigh |date=2023-02-23 |title=How The Cool Kid Of Progressive Politics Gambled It All Away |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-cool-kid-of-progressive-politics-gambled-it-all-away/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223130757/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-cool-kid-of-progressive-politics-gambled-it-all-away/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=FiveThirtyEight |language=en-US}}] McElwee left the firm in November 2022 amidst allegations of gambling on election results and artificially manipulating polling results to affect races that he had bet money on.[{{cite news |last1=Freedlander |first1=David |title=The Fall of the Progressive Boy King |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/sam-bankman-fried-and-sean-mcelwees-fateful-alliance.html |access-date=21 December 2022 |work=Intelligencer |date=21 December 2022 |language=en-us}}] Additionally, it has been reported McElwee had inquired among his employees about having them participate in an illegal straw donor scheme.[{{Cite web|last=Zhou|first=Li|date=2021-03-25|title=Most people are open to changing the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation|url=https://www.vox.com/2021/3/25/22347322/filibuster-voting-rights-poll|access-date=2021-08-26|website=Vox|language=en}}] [environmental policy](/source/environmental_policy)[{{Cite web|title=Are Progressive Climate Policies a Political Poison Pill?|url=https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/data-for-progress-climate-policy|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.greentechmedia.com}}] (including the [Green New Deal](/source/Green_New_Deal)[{{Cite news|last1=Carlock|first1=Greg|last2=McElwee|first2=Sean|date=2018-09-18|title=Why the Best New Deal Is a Green New Deal|language=en-US|journal=The Nation|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-the-best-new-deal-is-a-green-new-deal/|access-date=2020-09-17|issn=0027-8378}}] and green housing[{{Cite web|date=2020-06-14|title=The Case for Green Investments in Low-Income Communities and Communities of Color|url=https://harvardlpr.com/2020/06/14/the-case-for-green-investments-in-low-income-communities-and-communities-of-color/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Harvard Law & Policy Review|language=en-US}}]), proposals for [Medicare for All](/source/Medicare_for_All),[{{Cite web|title=Memo: Polling Medicare for All|url=https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/medicare-for-all-polling|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Data For Progress|language=en-US}}] [pharmaceutical drug](/source/pharmaceutical_drug) pricing,[{{Cite web|last=Yglesias|first=Matthew|date=2020-02-24|title=These are the popular ideas progressives can win with (and some unpopular ones to avoid)|url=https://www.vox.com/2020/2/24/21134677/polling-progressive-ideas-medicare-for-all-drug-costs-climate|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Vox|language=en}}] capping [credit card interest](/source/credit_card_interest) rates,[{{Cite web|last=Levitz|first=Eric|date=2019-08-30|title=Here Are 7 'Left Wing' Ideas (Almost) All Americans Can Get Behind|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/poll-marijuana-legalization-data-for-progress-radical-ideas-popular-aoc.html|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Intelligencer|language=en-us}}] reallocating funds appropriated to the [defense budget](/source/Military_budget_of_the_United_States) to domestic services,[{{Cite web|title=Voters Want Leaders to Put People Over the Pentagon, Poll Shows|url=https://www.citizen.org/news/voters-want-leaders-to-put-people-over-the-pentagon-poll-shows/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=Public Citizen|language=en}}]
=== Federal personnel ===
During and following the 2020 presidential election, Data for Progress pushed for the inclusion of progressives and the exclusion of moderates in a Biden administration. Julian Brave NoiseCat, the organization's vice president of policy & strategy, has been credited for leading a successful lobbying campaign to have [Deb Haaland](/source/Deb_Haaland) be appointed as [Secretary of the Interior](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Interior).[{{Cite news|last=Davenport|first=Coral|date=2021-02-22|title=Fight Over Deb Haaland, First Native American Cabinet Pick, Reflects Partisan Divide|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/climate/deb-haaland-interior.html|access-date=2021-08-22|issn=0362-4331}}]
=== State legislative elections ===
In 2019, the ''[New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' profiled the organization's "Party Builder" ranking built in conjunction with Future Now Fund. This list served to quantify the support given by [2020 Democratic presidential primary](/source/2020_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries) candidates to state legislative candidates in order to incentive further investment in these races.[{{Cite news|last=Stevens|first=Matt|date=2019-07-11|title=Here's One List Where Kirsten Gillibrand Is Winning and Kamala Harris Is Tied With Marianne Williamson|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/us/politics/2020-democrats-future-now-fund.html|access-date=2021-08-26|issn=0362-4331}}] 2019 also saw the launch of Data for Progress's "Fuck Gerry(mandering)" project in collaboration with [Crooked Media](/source/Crooked_Media), which served to assist Democrats running for the [Virginia General Assembly](/source/Virginia_General_Assembly).[{{Cite web|date=2019-05-17|title=The Team Behind "Pod Save America" Is Trying to Fight Gerrymandering|url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/pod-save-america-crooked-media-fuck-gerrymandering-fund|access-date=2021-08-26|website=Teen Vogue|language=en-US}}]
=== Blog ===
Data for Progress's blog has been contributed to by political figures including [Senate Majority Leader](/source/Senate_Majority_Leader) [Chuck Schumer](/source/Chuck_Schumer).