Polling America (How Smalltown Values Can Save Our Country)

Despite pressure to relocate to Manhattan or Washington DC given the success of his internationally recognized polling business, pollster and political campaigner John Zogby and his family remain based in his hometown of Utica in Upstate New York. It is from this small-town (or small-city) perspective that Zogby shares insights on American politics at large, and how community is our best chance to remain a unified nation. Through case studies from Zogby International Poll’s most famous and fascinating results, day-to-day reflections on life in America, and insights gleaned from his four decades as a public opinion researcher and political campaigner with an eclectic array of clients, Polling America is for anyone who wants to understand people where they are – whether it be clients, voters, shareholders, neighbors, or even their own families. Zogby reveals his personal truths, experiences, life-changing moments, triumphs, and sheer debacles – and he also busts some enduring myths – that have made this such a fascinating journey, shared from his trademark homegrown perspective.

Taking readers behind the scenes of politics and polling on the national and local level, Polling America provides useful insights and valuable lessons to citizen readers, from straight-forward voters to those who serve on school boards, or those who want to run for local, regional, or even national office. Because of Zogby’s strong interests in how communities connect, whether through churches, synagogues, and mosques, or secular organizations, this grassroots book uses examples from small-town America – in this case Utica in New York State – to help us think about how to do things better.

Part memoir and part love letter to a small American city, Polling America recounts John Zogby's perspective on his career and the people he has known, showing readers that understanding your neighbors can improve our community and our country.