My hope is that this collaboration can assist with connecting the University’s world-leading research – from academics and students alike – with what’s happening in public opinion and policy making at a national and global level.
-Joel Rodgers
Public opinion is a crucial element of our democracies, but it’s not an easy thing to gauge. Cutting through the bluster of an hysterical media to get to the beliefs, concerns and opinions that people actually hold dear takes skill and resources. YouGov, the international online opinion research agency, are polling specialists who gather opinion data. They are experts in asking the right questions.
But, without in-depth knowledge of the area being polled – and YouGov polls across a huge range of areas – the answers that come back can end up adding to the noise of empty headlines. The experts in asking questions always need more experts in the things they ask the questions about.
It struck both Dr Joel Faulkner Rogers (Academic Director at YouGov) and Stephan Shakespeare (YouGov CEO), that there was potential for a “natural marriage” between YouGov and Rogers’ old University – he was a postgrad in International Relations at Cambridge. They approached Professor Andrew Gamble, then Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), with a mutually beneficial offer. The result was YouGov–Cambridge, born in 2011.
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Image: Graphic from Research Horizons
Credit: The District
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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