Survey Center on American Life

What Survey Center on American Life does

The Survey Center on American Life is a non-profit survey research organization founded in 2019 and operating as a project of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. It conducts original, nationally representative public opinion research on American cultural, political, and social trends, with topic areas including politics and elections, culture and religion, community and civic life, family and relationships, and health, science, and technology. The center's core methodology relies on NORC's AmeriSpeak probability-based panel, used to field two flagship proprietary instruments: the American Perspectives Survey and the Survey on Community and Society (SCS), with typical sample sizes of roughly 5,000-6,500 adults and interviews conducted in English and Spanish.

Its outputs include Survey Reports (134+ published since inception), Commentaries, Short Reads, a biweekly newsletter called American Storylines, a Substack publication (American Storytellers), and interactive tools such as the Beyond the Ballot Quiz and Dating Dealbreakers; raw datasets are also made available through a downloadable Data Archive. Distribution is entirely free of charge, and the center does not sell products or services. Reach is amplified through earned media coverage in outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Vox, FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic, and Business Insider, and through Director Daniel A. Cox's external contributions and 2024 book, 'Generation Uncoupled' (Penguin Random House). Funding comes from institutional philanthropy, including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; revenue is not commercially generated.

The center is staffed by four personnel — a Director (Daniel A. Cox), a Program Associate and Researcher (Kelsey Eyre Hammond), and three Research Assistants (Avery Shields, Jae Grace, Carly Pope) — supported by AEI's administrative infrastructure. Beyond AEI, named partners include NORC at the University of Chicago (methodology) and the Knight Foundation (funder).

Name

Survey Center on American Life

Legal name

Survey Center on American Life

Website

https://americansurveycenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Survey Center on American Life is a non-profit research project of the American Enterprise Institute that conducts original, nationally representative survey research on American cultural, political, and social trends, distributing reports, commentary, and data free to the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Opinion Research

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Quantitative Research & Survey Analytics (Survey Design, Sampling, Statistical Modeling) (MPAAALAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Fieldwork & Data Collection (Online Panels, CATI/CAPI, Fieldwork) (MPAAALAD), Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB), Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)

Keywords

• Public opinion research
• Survey research services
• Political polling
• Social science research
• Public policy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding: The Survey Center on American Life operates as a project of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a nonprofit think tank. Funding comes from institutional supporters including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. No commercial revenue model exists as research is distributed freely to the public.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Survey Center on American Life conducts original national survey research examining American cultural, political, and social trends, then distributes the resulting reports, commentary, data, and interactive tools freely through its website. It is the dedicated polling and public opinion research arm of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), operating with support from institutional funders such as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Product overview

The Survey Center on American Life is a research organization producing survey-based content through a portfolio of interconnected products. Its core offerings include Survey Reports (comprehensive research publications), Commentary (analysis pieces), Short Reads (brief research summaries), and the American Storylines newsletter. Interactive tools such as the Beyond the Ballot Quiz and Dating Dealbreakers engage audiences with survey data through web-based experiences. The Data Archive provides downloadable datasets for researchers. All research is made available through the organization's website, with content spanning five research areas: Politics and Elections, Culture and Religion, Community and Civic Life, Family/Relationships/Social Life, and Health/Science/Technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Survey Reports In-depth research publications presenting survey findings on American cultural, political, and social trends, covering topics such as the gender divide, political coalitions, religious change, and civic life. Targeted at policy makers, journalists, researchers, and the informed public.
• American Storylines Newsletter
• Commentary
• Short Reads
• Interactive Tools (Dating Dealbreakers, American Interactives)
• Beyond the Ballot Quiz An interactive quiz that challenges users to predict voting patterns based on demographic and issue-based voter profiles, tied to the 2024 Presidential election cycle.
• Data Archive
• Internship Program Structured internship opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent graduates to gain experience in survey research, polling methodology, and public opinion analysis under Senior Fellow Daniel A. Cox.
• American Perspectives Survey Proprietary national survey series examining American attitudes on politics, culture, religion, and social life using probability-based NORC AmeriSpeak panels with nationally representative samples.
• Survey on Community and Society (SCS) Research methodology and survey series measuring social connections, neighborhood amenities, civic engagement, and belonging, including the 2025 American Neighbor Survey funded by the Knight Foundation.

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Survey Center on American Life is an official project of the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, DC. AEI provides institutional support, hosting, and administrative infrastructure for the center's research operations.
• NORC at the University of ChicagocoreTechnology or IntegrationSurvey research is conducted using NORC's AmeriSpeak Panel, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US household population. Interviews conducted in Spanish and English for national surveys.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• YouGov: Global online panel research and polling company publishing recurring U.S. political and cultural surveys; competes for media citations on the same Gen Z, gender, and election topics SCAL covers, but with a commercial rather than nonprofit model.
• Gallup: Incumbent polling and analytics firm with deep national surveys on politics, religion, and wellbeing; much larger scale and commercial operations but overlapping subject matter with SCAL's American Perspectives Survey.

Others

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI): Parent organization and broader research platform; provides institutional hosting, funding infrastructure, and the senior-fellow appointment that anchors SCAL's operations. Comparable as a think tank but not as a polling-specific entity.
• Knight Foundation: Major U.S. journalism and community-funders foundation; provided grant funding for SCAL's 2025 American Neighbor Survey, making it a key institutional supporter analogous to funders of Pew Research and other polling nonprofits.

Direct peers

• Pew Research Center: Largest U.S. nonprofit public opinion polling organization; conducts nationally representative surveys on politics, religion, and social trends with the same go-to-market (free reports, media citations, data archive) as SCAL. Cox previously worked there as a Research Associate.
• Marist Poll: University-based national polling operation producing recurring political, cultural, and consumer surveys; uses probability-based sampling and publishes freely for media citation, mirroring SCAL's nonprofit research and news-driven model.
• Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI): Nonprofit research institute focused on the intersection of religion, culture, and public opinion; conducts American Values Survey and other national surveys. Cox co-founded and was Research Director at PRRI, making it the closest organizational analogue to SCAL.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: Independent research organization operating the AmeriSpeak probability-based panel that SCAL uses for fieldwork; also conducts its own national surveys (e.g., General Social Survey). Comparable in survey methodology and nonprofit research model.

Emerging players

• Echelon Insights: Republican-leaning public opinion and consumer research firm; produces Gen Z, youth political, and consumer-focused polling that directly overlaps SCAL's coverage of young men/women and political coalitions, with a more commercial orientation.
• Cato Institute: Libertarian think tank conducting public opinion and policy research; shares the think-tank-plus-survey hybrid model with AEI's Survey Center, with overlapping political-economy and cultural coverage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/dcoxpolls
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/survey-center-on-american-life

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Survey Center on American Life