Analyst Institute

The Institute was co-founded by Michael Podhorzer, the longtime political director of the AFL-CIO. He began inviting other left-of-center data analysts to the AFL-CIO’s headquarters to share and discuss their research following then-President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. The attendees, unofficially referred to as the “Analyst Group,” grew to a few dozen within a couple of years, and they eventually established it as an official organization in 2007. ²

Activities

The Analyst Institute is a data research firm that works with left-of-center organizations and campaigns across the United States to help them measure the effectiveness of their programs and increase their reach. The Institute has run experimental tests for hundreds of such groups. ¹

The Analyst Institute conducts research towards voter behavior and preferences to specific politicians and policy issues in order to “empower” political “progressives,” claiming it exists due to “groups across the left who are committed to doing better work.” ^{1 3}

According to its website, the Analyst Institute lists “voter education,” voter engagement,” “voter mobilization,” and “action-taking programs” as its main areas of work. The Institute claims to host “the only centralized, free database of civic engagement research and best practices” in the U.S., while only making said database available to its “partner network.” As of March 2026, the Institute claims its database holds data on over 15,000 individuals and groups.  ^{4 5}

Information derived from these efforts is not widely distributed. The New York Times Magazine noted the collected research is shared only among the groups that work with Analyst Institute. ⁶

The Analyst Institute hosts an annual “Expy” awards recognizing member organizations focusing on both research and collaborative learning. ⁷

In 2014, the institute worked with Vote.org founder Debra Cleaver to study whether text messages could be used to pressure participants to vote, finding that the method increased turnout slightly. Vote.org used the data to mass text millions of potential voters prior to the 2016 presidential election. ⁸

In 2015, Analyst Institute worked with the Democratic-aligned House of Representatives Super PAC, House Majority PAC, to determine the effectiveness of attack ads on a tight congressional race in Maine between then-incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) and his Democratic challenger, former Maine State House Minority Leader Emily Cain. Polling numbers for the two were close inside the Bangor “media market” before the ads aired, but Cain saw an 11-percentage point jump after the ads aired. ⁹ Poliquin was, however, ultimately reelected by a nine-point margin. ¹⁰

Women Running for Public Office

In April 2018, the Analyst Institute joined professors and researchers from the Penn School for Arts and Sciences; the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Rutgers-Camden in producing a survey concerning why women run, or do not run, for public office. The study concluded that financial concerns as well “psychological barriers,” such as “fears of running [for office] and loss of privacy. . . depressed women’s ambition[s].” ¹¹

In 2014, Analyst Institute partnered with progressive Super PAC Patriot Majority to test whether television and digital advertisements could increase turnout among minorities and younger women. They found a slight bump – about 3 to 4 percent – among most groups who saw the advertisements. ⁹

Partnerships

As of 2026, listed partner organizations of the Analyst Institute included Alliance for Youth Action, America Votes, Democracy Fund, Equis, Empower Project, Headcount, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Texas Freedom Network, the Movement Cooperative, MovementLabs, StateVoices, Voces de la Frontera, Vote.org, Voter Participation Center, Vote Rev, VotoLatino, Civic Nation, Working America, and Amplify Georgia Collaborative. ¹²

Leadership

Executive Director

As of 2026, Christina Coloroso is the executive director of the Analyst Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, Coloroso led the analytics program at Democratic-aligned data firm Catalist and at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). She had also worked as a pollster, mail consultant, campaign manager, and state Democratic party operative. ¹³

Aaron Strauss is the former executive director. Prior to leading Analyst Institute, Strauss previously consulted for several organizations including the AFL-CIO, Catalist, and Google. In 2012, he was the targeting and data director for the DCCC. ¹⁴

Founder

See also Michael Podhorzer

The Analyst Institute was co-founded by then-AFL-CIO political director Michael Podhorzer following a discussion with analysts and activists he hosted at the AFL-CIO headquarters after then-President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. Unofficially referring to as the “Analyst Group,” the group later expanded before officially forming in 2007. Other listed founding members included Yale University political science professors Alan Gerber and Donald Green. ²

Todd Rogers was the first executive director of the Institute when it formed in 2007, while also being listed as a “co-founder” of the organization. As of 2026, Rogers is still listed as a member of the Institute’s board. ^{15 16} Podhorzer worked as AFL-CIO political director until 2019. He later co-founded the Independent Strategic Research Collaborative (ISRC) while becoming a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. ^{17 18 19}

Prior to founding the Analyst Institute, Podhorzer sat on the board of managers for Catalist, which he also he founded. ^{20 19}  As of 2026, Podhorzer was the board chair of the Analyst Institute. ²¹

Funding

The AFL-CIO provided Analyst Institute with $33,136 of in-kind assistance in 2014 through office space at its headquarters.²² Other groups give various amounts. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee contributed $22,000 for consultant fees in 2014. Planned Parenthood Action Fund gave the institute about $30,000 in contributions in 2016. ²³ Women Vote! gave $5,500 to the institute in 2016.²⁴

The organization claims on its website that it “relies on contributions to fund our free community trainings, advising, research, and partnerships” ²⁵ and that it is “intentionally not profit-seeking” while “operating without profit disbursements.” ²⁵