Staff Bios

Geoffrey Garin

Geoffrey D. Garin is the president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, one of the nation's leading survey research firms.  He became president of Hart Research in 1984, after having worked in the firm since 1978 as a senior analyst and vice president. Mr. Garin has brought his skill, insight, and innovative approaches as a researcher and strategist to a wide variety of fields – including social and economic policy, consumer marketing, and politics.

Mr. Garin has conducted polling projects for a wide variety of foundations and non-profit organizations.  The foundations for which he has undertaken landmark policy research on include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the Gill Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Mr. Garin’s body of research on domestic social, legal, and economic policy issues includes projects for the University of California, the College Board, the Alliance for Justice, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the Fannie Mae Foundation.  He has conducted research on health care issues for the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association of America. His work on international policy issues includes studies for CARE, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and the United Nations Foundation.

Mr. Garin also has conducted extensive strategic research for the American labor movement, including projects for the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Service Employees International Union. Since 1993 he has conducted regular polling on the attitudes of younger Americans for MTV.  On behalf of EMILY’s List, he has directed ongoing research about the political attitudes and values of women.  He has conducted strategic messaging research for many of America’s leading advocacy organizations on issues such as Social Security, the environment, civil rights, and personal privacy.

In politics, Mr. Garin has a well-earned reputation for helping candidates win in difficult circumstances. In 2001, Mr. Garin’s strategic research helped Mark Warner win the governorship in Virginia, despite the state’s strong Republican leanings. Mr. Garin has directed the polling and created winning campaign strategies for many of the leading Democrats serving in the U.S. Senate, including Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Russ Feingold, Robert C. Byrd, Jay Rockefeller, Patrick Leahy, Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, and Byron Dorgan.  In the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Garin was the polling advisor to General Wesley Clark and was the pollster for the Democratic National Committee’s independent expenditure campaign in the general election.

Mr. Garin graduated from Harvard College in 1975.  He has appeared on the news programs of every major network, and he has served as on-air analyst for CBS Radio's coverage of the national election returns for every election cycle since 1990. He is married to Deborah Berkowitz, an expert in occupational safety and health, and is the father of two sons, Andy and Danny.