Partners

• Chris Wilson
• Chris Perkins
• Bryon Allen

Chris Perkins

Focus

Chris Perkins is Partner at WPA Opinion Research and runs the firm’s Texas office in Austin.  WPA has been cited as among the most accurate polling firms in the country by independent statistical observers and 64% of clients that WPA conducted surveys for in the 2010 election cycle won their respective races.

In the 2010 election cycle, Perkins polled for 16 winning Republican candidates for the State Legislature, US House of Representatives and statewide office in six states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Virginia.

In Texas, Perkins was named one of the top 10 “power consultants” by Capitol Inside’s bi-partisan “Texas Power Consultants” rankings, and is widely recognized to have been the most accurate pollster conducting surveys in Texas during the 2010 general election.

Perkins is an expert in quantitative and qualitative analysis having conducted and analyzed survey data for over a decade on behalf of Republican candidates and numerous corporate, trade association and non-profit clients.  These clients have a distinct advantage over the opposition due to having WPA’s advanced analytics at their disposal and Perkins’ unique ability of formulating winning strategies based on the calculations of the data.

In addition to his political work, Perkins has conducted quantitative and qualitative research on behalf of clients in the telecommunications, health care, gaming and energy fields.  Among others, he counts Tim Warner Cable, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., and the American Society of Medical Doctors as his clients.

Prior to joining WPA, Perkins ran the independent expenditure (IE) unit for the Republican National Committee, overseeing US House and Senate IE’s in multiple states.  Understanding how IE’s work and operate is a necessary component in modern political elections and Perkins knowledge of the process and the necessary language needed to drive the message is key to IE clients.

Before his time at the RNC, Perkins was the director of Americans for a Republican Majority PAC, the leadership PAC of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.   While Director, Perkins help establish the PAC as the #1 leadership PAC on Capitol Hill for two straight election cycles, being strategically involved in virtually every targeted US House race for the 2002 and 2004 election cycles; cycles in which House Republicans made significant gains

Because of Perkins’ deep Texas roots, he oversaw the historic 2003 Texas redistricting process which overturned decades of Democrat gerrymandering and helped make the Texas Republican Delegation the largest of any state in the country.  Using various statistical methods, overseeing data research and analysis, as well as advising on the electoral implications of the data, Perkins was involved in every step of this winning process.

Pertinent Background

• Over a decade of experience in campaign strategy, grassroots and message development
• Significant background in corporate, non-profit and external coalition building
• Expert in quantitative and qualitative data research and analysis

Credentials

• Has traveled to train over 1000 activists in 15 of the Top 25 media markets
• Guest lecturer at the Leadership Institute’s “Grassroots Activist,” “Campaign Management,” and “Future Candidate” schools
• Frequent speaker at trade associations and Fortune 500 company conferences about targeting, messaging and expectations for upcoming election results.

Currently Perkins teaches ‘Polling and Targeting’ for the Annette Straus Institute’s New Politics Forum at the University of Texas at Austin, which provides UT students a bi-partisan look at the way modern political campaigns are conducted.

By formulating data to put together a specifically targeted message for each constituency, Perkins’ clients win.