Case Study: Echelon Insights achieves fast, accurate insights into the Republican primary electorate with Google Analytics Solutions

Echelon Insights and Google Surveys Defining the Republican Landscape

Echelon Insights, a new firm combining opinion research, predictive analytics, and digital intelligence, set out to map the Republican primary electorate early in the 2016 cycle amid a crowded 17-person field. The challenge was to quickly and accurately identify which candidates voters supported, which attributes appealed to supporters, and what was driving Donald Trump’s surge at a time when traditional polling was struggling to keep pace.

Echelon used Google Surveys’ online/mobile platform to field a rapid survey of 850 likely Republican primary voters (Aug 3–4, 2015), enabling faster, lower-cost analysis. The ballot test showed Trump leading at 32% and Jeb Bush at 13%; half of Trump’s supporters cited his authenticity/outspokenness as their primary reason for support, with his strength strongest among social and all‑around conservatives and weakest with fiscal conservatives. Echelon published these insights and continued to deploy Google Surveys throughout the election cycle.

Echelon Insights