HIT NEWSLETTER
Celebrating Our 4th Anniversary!
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Four years ago last month, Terrance and I founded HIT Strategies to revolutionize public opinion research and understand America’s fastest-growing consumers and voters. In a short span, HIT Strategies has emerged as a leading authority for campaigns, news outlets, and organizations seeking to reach the communities we understand better than anybody in the business. As we commemorate our four-year journey, we want to highlight several milestones that demonstrate success and our ongoing commitment to addressing America’s most pressing issues.
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2019 – HIT Wins First Client with Candidate for President
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When presidential candidate Tom Steyer looked to make significant gains with voters, he turned to HIT Strategies. The results represent the first test case of HIT Strategies research insight and targeting of voters.
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2019 – Introducing BLACKtrack
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In 2019, we introduced BLACKtrack, one of our flagship research tools—a monthly tracking survey of Black registered voters. The survey analyzes Black voters’ diverse motivations and attitudes, ensuring we keep our finger on the pulse of the Democratic coalition’s most vital constituency. Our BLACKtrack research reports, and visually appealing graphics have become a resource for Beltway insiders, political outlets, and policymakers.
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2021 – Understanding America’s Vaccination Gap
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BLACKtrack played a pivotal role in addressing the vaccine gap among Black Americans and communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. With our partners, HIT Strategies released a report that delved into the perspectives of unvaccinated Black voters, aiming to identify the necessary steps to encourage vaccine uptake. The survey underscored the need for a coordinated strategy encompassing mandates and informational marketing that could successfully persuade Black voters to get vaccinated. This proactive approach helped bridge the vaccine gap and contributed to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color.
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2021- Present – Specializing in Abortion Research
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Over the last several years, we delved deeply into studying the politics surrounding abortion, adding new abortion questions to our surveys and granting media interviews specifically on the topic. As part of our integrated reproductive rights media campaign last year, we released a set of graphics, voter guides, op-eds, and strategic messaging memos to help candidates, organizations, and voters on the frontlines of abortion clashes.
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One major research partnership was our work with URGE, prior to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, in which we investigated the attitudes of young voters towards abortion and abortion access. This groundbreaking study revealed an overwhelming majority, 74%, of young voters were in favor of protecting abortion rights. Understanding young voters’ collective power helped elevate pro-choice candidates in the 2022 midterms across the country.
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2021-2023: Understanding Young Voters
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Since HIT’s inception, understanding the unique experiences and attitudes of young voters, and young non-voters, has been paramount. From analyzing focus groups made up of young voters to our partnership with GenForward, HIT has understood how critical, diverse, and powerful the emerging electorate is. We saw this power firsthand, as one of our research managers, Ashley Aylward, described in one of her widely distributed TIME op-eds, on how young voters helped stave off a “red wave” and elect Democrats across the country in the 2022 midterms.
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2022 – Crime & Public Safety Specialty
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In 2021, HIT Strategies, in collaboration with Change Research, completed a multi-staged research project on public safety attitudes and messaging. With the project, we demonstrated that American voters prioritize funding new and smart approaches to safety rather than solely focusing on maximizing police budgets. Since the release of the report, which in turn was featured in media, we have continued to explore the complexities of public safety through BLACKtrack and with the support of numerous clients. The issue of crime and public safety played a significant role in the 2022 midterm narrative and is expected to remain a prominent topic in many elections to come. Taking a stand for a re-imagined public safety platform will be vital for progressives and Democrats to shift the dynamics of crime politics and transition away from a defensive stance on crime.
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2023 – AAPI Representation
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Earlier this year, AsAmNews wrote a feature about my journey into politics and eventual co-founding of HIT, where one focus has been understanding AAPI voters. A common misconception is that this group of voters are more conservative in their views, when in fact they have progressive positions on education, immigration, gun control and abortion.
I wrote about the need for Democrats to focus on Asian women, along with all women of color, as they mobilize voters in the fight for abortion rights.
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2022 – Women Lead HIT Strategies Research
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One of the proudest developments HIT unveiled over its existence is our women-led research team!
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2022 – Showtime Feature HIT Strategies
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HIT earned a major TV spot in Showtime’s The Circus last April, where Terrance spoke with Mark McKinnon about Democratic voters in the 2022 midterms.
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2023 – First White House Correspondents Dinner Reception
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Another major event HIT hosted was our first White House Correspondence Dinner reception with Crooked Media and MoveOn in 2023. The event included such guests as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Former White House Press Secretary and MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer, and esteemed members of the media.
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As you can see, it’s been nothing short of an eventful, exciting, and impactful past four years. None of this would be possible without our steadfast HIT team over the years and the incredible partnerships we’ve formed with you all – a heartfelt thank you, and here’s to many more years to come! 🥂
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For the latest updates about our firm and research, follow us on social media and visit our website!
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