Conducting market research is a critical part of taking a 360° view of big challenges, helping direct our decision-making with data-informed insights for the integrated strategies we deliver for clients.
With contextualized research and data in hand, our team helps clients deliver impactful messages that we know ahead of time will resonate with target audiences. Good research helps frame issues around community values, challenges and priorities, which translates into winning campaign strategies, effective policies that can be moved forward, and stronger marketing impacts with key audiences.
At the heart of S360’s research services, you will find a team lead by experienced public opinion strategists David Kornahrens and Ryan Karlsgodt.
This team excels at distilling actionable recommendations from public opinion research. Whether they accurately measured public sentiment with a representative survey poll or probe community decision making in a focus group, our research professionals offer more than data – they bring contextual insights. In recent years, the team has conducted more than 80 polls for private sector companies, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies across the country.
They work closely with clients to design surveys that answer key questions that deliver insightful strategic guidance. The research team ensures high-quality methodology during interviews and delivers both high-level data and in-depth analysis from which they present clear, actionable recommendations that support clients’ goals. Their work doesn’t sit on a shelf; it’s integrated into winning strategies.
“An experienced outdoor hiker would never navigate the wilderness without a map,” David said. “Well-designed research tests assumptions that might otherwise be taken for granted and reveals the advantages and disadvantages of different pathways to reach an objective. Our research provides a map of the best way forward.”
Research ensures decisions are grounded in real insight rather than assumptions.
Experience and Earned Trust
Clients benefit from our team’s hard-earned lessons and pattern recognition developed over our years of working through complex public policy and communications challenges. And S360’s research team brings this experience to every project.
David is S360’s Senior Vice President of Research and brings an extensive background supporting political campaigns in both research and as a campaign manager. He has previously worked as campaign manager for Paula Villescaz for California State Assembly and served as Director of Polling and Modeling for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee(DCCC) where he oversaw research teams that worked across 80 battleground districts, and whose research helped secure a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.
Ryan, S360’s Research Manager, also served as a research analyst for the DCCC, and was part of the political research team that supported President Obama’s reelection in 2012. From there he joined the Obama Administration, helping coordinate political appointments across Federal agencies and then becoming a Presidential appointee himself in the Office of Global Climate Change at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Prior to joining S360 Ryan was the research analyst for San Diego’s hotel and hospitality workers union, UNITE HERE! Local 30, where he tracked local politics and policy.
Being able to spot trends, make sense of contradictory data signals, and guide clients to successful messaging has proven instrumental in Strategies 360’s successful campaigns over the years. This team’s most recent success was in the February 2026 election in Washington state securing $4 billion in bonds and levies for 12 school districts. Using the research team’s data and analysis, S360’s education communications team developed an effective strategy that paired strong messages with engaging collateral developed by our creative services. The big wins for students means more room to learn, more resources to grow, and more opportunities to pursue big dreams and goals.
Where Research is Trending
David and Ryan see research continuing to evolve toward digital methods. Community members and voters increasingly prefer to participate on their own time, accessed through online platforms. Over the past decade, the share of respondents completing surveys via web links texted to their phones has grown dramatically and now represents a majority of completed interviews, a trend the team is already leveraging for clients.
Big Challenges Need a Strategist’s Approach
David and Ryan are curious, creative problem-solvers working within an integrated team of strategists. By turning data into direction, they help clients move forward with confidence to deliver comprehensive, collaborative solutions.
Whether providing smaller communities specialized research like Community-Plus and Community-Basic surveys or conducting large-scale representative opinion polling projects, David and Ryan manage the research process end-to-end.
“My advice when we start a project with a client is to trust the process,” Ryan said. “Our clients are experts in their fields and provide us with important, detailed context for their specific research needs. Let us be the experts in which research methods will best meet their desired goals and needs. At the end of the day, you’ll have data that is both tailored to your needs and trustworthy.”
Their approach starts with setting clear, manageable expectations and carefully documenting a client’s perceptions and goals. From there, they translate those needs into a customized research plan designed to deliver insightful and actionable information. Their aim for every project is to ensure each client understands the most efficient and effective method or message to achieve their goals.