Joe has built a career in survey research that combines his love of numbers, fascination with elections, and curiosity about how and why people make the choices that they do. His office shelves are lined with all 28 editions of The Almanac of American Politics, reflecting a lifelong passion for data and democracy.
Joe brings decades of experience in election research and methodology to the SSRS team. A respected leader in the field, he co-founded Edison Research (now part of SSRS) and served as Executive Vice President, overseeing all exit polling for the National Election Pool (ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC). Under his direction, Edison conducted every state and national exit poll for the NEP since 2003 and led international election studies in Iraq, Venezuela, and the Republic of Georgia.
Now that Edison is part of SSRS, Joe continues to lead these efforts, bringing his decades of experience in election research and methodology to the expanded SSRS team.
Joe began his career at the CBS News Election & Survey Unit, where his mix of statistical expertise, programming skills in the obscure language APL, and ability to name all 100 U.S. senators helped him land the job. He honed his craft in election projection and exit polling during the 1988 election and later consulted for the VRS and VNS consortiums before founding Edison in 1994.
An active leader in the research community, Joe has served on the Executive Council of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and as President of the New York Chapter of AAPOR. A graduate of Princeton University with additional studies at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, he has lectured widely and received numerous honors, including the 2018 Harry W. O’Neill Award for Outstanding Achievement from NYAAPOR and the 2025 Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research from the Roper Center.
A lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan, Joe knows both the agony and the ecstasy of the game. Each year, he and his wife, Cathy, and their son, Paul, continue a family tradition of visiting a U.S. National Park.