The Senate and House sent a sweeping criminal justice reform bill to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk this week. The Governor has not said how he will proceed. Details matter, and there are a lot of them to parse, but the overall thrust of the bill is very much in keeping with what voters have said
Democracy is breaking out all over Massachusetts
The Topline
2018 was supposed to be the year of blockbuster match-ups in Massachusetts. The de facto leaders of both parties are running for reelection, offering the prospect of bruising contests for both Senate and the Governor’s office. Instead, the two main event races are blowouts so far, while a bevy of interesting and important elections are
DA candidates seek to capitalize on public desire for new approach to criminal justice
The Topline
Criminal justice reform legislation has yet to emerge from conference committee on Beacon Hill, but many of the ideas the legislature debated in writing their bills are now making their way into District Attorney races across the state. Polling we’ve conducted shows these ideas are popular among large swaths of the public, setting up potentially interesting contests of ideas
Traffic ahead?
The present and future of transportation in Massachusetts
This morning The MassINC Polling Group released its latest polling on voter opinions on transportation in Massachusetts at an event hosted by Transportation for Massachusetts. The research was made possible by The Barr Foundation. The event couldn’t have been more timely. During the presentation, news broke that Massachusetts had dropped from first to eight in
A Man of No Party
The Topline
The Democratic state representative for one of the most Democratic-voting districts in Massachusetts ditched the party this week. In explaining his switch in party registration, Solomon Goldstein-Rose of Amherst, representing the Third Hampshire district, told MassLive: “I’ve always been unenrolled in spirit. I’ve been acting nonpartisan since I was elected and before.” Goldstein-Rose, who at 24
Is MA-7 minority-majority? Not among voters
The Topline
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley announced last week she is challenging 18-year veteran Congressman Mike Capuano. […] Since Pressley’s announcement, much of the coverage has noted the diversity of the district as a key dynamic in how the race may unfold. The urban district, which includes large parts of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, and Chelsea, is alone
Baker’s State of the Commonwealth, by the numbers
The Topline
Latest WBUR polling shows the governor well positioned heading into November It’s an expected cliché for a governor to say in his annual address to the legislature that the state of the Commonwealth is strong, but this year Charlie Baker has some pretty compelling poll numbers to back it up. Our latest WBUR poll finds nearly three-quarters
The MassINC Polling Group Announces Launch of MPG Media
Media, communications services will augment opinion research
Boston, MA – MassINC and The MassINC Polling Group (MPG) are excited to launch their new in-house media group, MPG Media. The new division offers public, private, and social-sector clients a suite of digital storytelling services, including photography and videography, messaging and distribution, and social media strategy and web design. Ahead of its official launch,
A year of opportunity and impact
A Recap of 2017
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 2017 was a year of opportunity and impact for the MassINC family, which includes our Policy Center, CommonWealth magazine and the MassINC Polling Group. Please take a moment to look through our top highlights of the year and consider making a year-end donation that will help us continue our efforts to improve the quality of life in
The Topline
A Year in Review
“Polling is an act of political resistance. It agglomerates the messy and inconvenient opinions of everyday people, kneads them into a whole, and forces them through the door into the air-conditioned echo chambers of political elites. This is not newly true, it’s just newly apparent.” That’s from a CommonWealth Magazine piece I wrote early this year, arguing