Joel Benenson (born July 24, 1952) is an American pollster and political strategist, most widely known for his guiding role in Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He was Obama's lead pollster [1] during his campaign, and continues to conduct research and polls for the Democratic National Committee. [2]
Benenson is the President and a founder of the Benenson Strategy Group, a consulting firm that conducts polls and research, and uses the results to advise companies, political candidates, labor unions, non-profit organizations, and other groups. [3]
Before co-founding Benenson Strategy Group, Benenson had had a bevy of jobs, including newspaper reporting, beer distributing, and a foray into the knife sales industry. Benenson was born on July 24, 1952 in New York City. He grew up in southeast Queens and now lives in New Jersey with his wife, two children, and Bernese Mountain dog, Max.
In addition to the Benenson Strategy Group, Benenson founded iModerate, an online market research company.
"Works Cited"
1. Smith, Ben. "Inside Obama's polling operation." Politico, 3 April, 2009
2. Goodspeed, Peter. "Pollster fine-tunes President's message." National Post, 19 June, 2009
3. Benenson Strategy Group, http://www.bsgco.com/