For over a quarter of a century, Public Agenda has been providing unbiased and unparalleled research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Nonpartisan and nonprofit, Public Agenda was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in 1975.
Public Agenda's two-fold mission is to help:
• American leaders better understand the public's point of view.
• Citizens know more about critical policy issues so they can make thoughtful, informed decisions.
Public Agenda is frequently consulted by members of Congress and by both Democratic and Republican Administrations. Public Agenda researchers and staff regularly partner with top business and policy organizations.
Every day, thousands log on to Public Agenda Online for up-to-date information on critical issues. Journalists, policy makers, students, teachers and citizens use Public Agenda's Web-based Issue Guides to find facts and figures, different perspectives and frequently-updated syntheses of public attitudes.
The Farkas Duffett Research Group (FDR Group) is a full-service, nonpartisan public opinion research company. We are experts at conducting surveys, focus groups, program evaluations and organizational evaluations.
Our mission is to help foundations and other nonprofits understand how the general public and other key groups feel and think about their initiatives. Our research helps new ideas and programs succeed by:
• Finding out what people really want
• Understanding the fears, values and hopes that drive people’s views
• Anticipating areas of resistance, inertia and backlash
• Suggesting ways to communicate with and engage constituencies
The FDR Group’s two principals are Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett. Together, we have more than 30 years of experience in opinion research. We’ve done work on education, families and children, saving and retirement, war and peace, the press and philanthropy—and many other areas.
Steve Farkas is principal of Farkas Duffett Research Group, LLC, a consulting company that uses the tools of public opinion research to help foundations and other nonprofits succeed with their programmatic initiatives and reform efforts.
Prior to co-founding the FDR Group, Steve was Director of Research at Public Agenda, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank, from 1992 to 2004. Originally planning a career in political consulting, he began with a short stint as a Senior Research Analyst at Penn + Schoen, Inc., in 1990.
Steve is the principal author of over 100 major opinion studies on a range of issues from public education, families, poverty and immigration, to social security, crime and foreign policy. His expertise lies in crafting original questionnaires, employing advanced statistical techniques and moderating focus groups. On education alone he has conducted over 150 focus group discussions with teachers, students, parents and administrators. He has appeared dozens of times on CNN, NPR, CBS, ABC and others.
He earned his B.A. from New York University, and his M.A. and M. Phil. from Columbia University’s Department of Political Science. At Columbia, Steve received a MacArthur Pre-Dissertation Fellowship; he is currently writing his dissertation on religious faith and tolerance. In 2004-2005 he was a Program Associate at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. He continues his affiliation with Public Agenda as a Senior Research Fellow.
