Elway Research

What Elway Research does

Elway Research, Inc. is a private, Seattle-based opinion and communication strategy research firm founded in 1975. The company conducts custom-designed surveys, key-person interviews, focus groups, electronic town hall meetings, and workshops for a horizontally diversified client base that includes government agencies (from the US Navy to local water districts), major corporations (including American Airlines and Microsoft), media outlets (from regional papers to al Jazeera), non-profits, associations, and foundations (including Ford, Robert Wood Johnson, and Gates). Its core product, The Elway Poll, is a quarterly independent, non-partisan survey of Washington voters launched in 1992 and now delivered as The Crosscut.Elway Poll through a 2018 partnership with Cascade Public Media, the parent of KCTS/9 and Crosscut.com.

The firm's methodology portfolio spans telephone, online, mail, electronic, and multi-mode survey research; in-person and small-group focus groups; structured key-person interviews; and a proprietary interactive polling system that uses handheld audience-response keypads to combine quantitative and qualitative data collection in real time. Interactive polling, which the firm has deployed since 1988, tabulates and displays participant responses instantly while a facilitator probes results, effectively turning passive audiences into research participants. Outputs are used to inform advertising development, attitude and behavior studies, campaign strategy, citizen engagement, government services evaluation, budget prioritization, and community visioning.

Elway Research operates as a project-based professional services firm with a sales-led, direct client engagement model. Services are custom-designed and quote-priced; no standardized pricing is publicly disclosed. The firm markets primarily through the visibility of The Crosscut.Elway Poll and its long-standing regional reputation, and it serves a Northwest-anchored US market with capability to extend to local, state, regional, and national populations.

Name

Elway Research

Legal name

Elway Research, Inc.

Website

https://elwayresearch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Custom-designed opinion and communication strategy research firm founded in 1975 in Seattle, serving government agencies, corporations, media outlets, non-profits, associations, and foundations via surveys, focus groups, key-person interviews, and interactive polling in the Pacific Northwest.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB)

Keywords

• Survey research services
• Public opinion polling
• Focus group research
• Communication strategy research
• Market research consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Custom Research Services: Provides custom-designed surveys, key-person interviews, focus groups, electronic town hall meetings and workshops for government agencies, corporations, media outlets, non-profits, associations, and foundations. Revenue appears to come from project-based professional services engagements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Elway Research designs and executes custom opinion research projects for organizations, including telephone/online/mail/electronic surveys, focus groups, key-person interviews, interactive polling sessions using handheld audience-response keypads, electronic town hall meetings, and communication strategy development. Its flagship output is The Elway Poll (now The Crosscut.Elway Poll), a quarterly independent, non-partisan survey of Washington state voters that has tracked public opinion since 1992.

Product overview

Elway Research is a communication strategy research firm that has operated since 1975, offering a portfolio of research services rather than a unified software platform. The core offerings include The Elway Poll (a quarterly public opinion survey of Washington voters since 1992, now delivered as The Crosscut.Elway Poll in partnership with Cascade Public Media), Interactive Polling using handheld audience response technology, Survey Research across multiple methodologies (telephone, online, mail, electronic, multi-mode), Focus Groups, Key Person Interviews, and Communication Strategy Services. These services work together to help clients understand public attitudes and develop effective communication strategies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Communication Strategy Services
• Survey Research Services
• Focus Groups
• Key Person Interviews
• Public Opinion Monitor (Crosscut.Elway Poll)
• Interactive Polling / Audience Response
• The Elway Poll

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cascade Public MediacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018In 2018, The Elway Poll partnered with Cascade Public Media to form The Crosscut.Elway Poll. Cascade Public Media is the parent organization for KCTS/9 (Seattle public television station) and Crosscut.com (daily digital news site). This nonprofit, community-licensed, publicly supported organization is committed to supporting social and civic engagement, arts and culture, education, and family initiatives. The partnership combines the 28-year history of The Elway Poll with KCTS public television and Crosscut's 30+ person newsroom to provide in-depth regional coverage of issues facing the Northwest.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• Morning Consult: Data intelligence company conducting high-velocity public opinion and brand tracking via proprietary online panels. Comparable in serving media, government, and corporate clients with opinion research, but uses a modern always-on technology stack rather than project-based custom fieldwork.
• Qualtrics: Experience management and survey platform serving enterprises with research, customer, and employee experience tools. Comparable as a survey/insights provider but at much larger scale, with a self-serve software model that competes for the same corporate and academic budgets.
• Civiqs: Online survey and public opinion research platform conducting large-scale opinion polling for media, campaigns, and academic clients. Comparable in public opinion research focus, but differentiates through an always-on online panel rather than custom project-based fieldwork.

Broad incumbents

• Gallup: Global analytics and advisory firm best known for its U.S. public opinion polling and long-running tracking studies. Comparable to Elway as a polling-driven research brand, but operates at vastly larger scale and across many verticals.
• Ipsos Public Affairs: Global market and public opinion research firm operating across corporate, government, and association clients. Comparable in custom survey design and public opinion work, but competes across all of Elway's segments with a global delivery footprint.
• Pew Research Center: Major nonpartisan research organization producing public opinion, demographic, and policy research. Comparable in longitudinal public opinion measurement and credibility, but operates as a non-profit at much greater scale and breadth.

Direct peers

• Public Policy Polling: U.S. public opinion polling firm producing state-level and national surveys for media and political clients. Comparable as a survey-driven research firm serving similar media and political end markets, though primarily national in scope.
• Moore Information Group: Portland-based public opinion, political, and market research firm serving political campaigns, associations, and corporations across the U.S. Closely comparable as a custom survey and polling firm with similar client types and Pacific Northwest roots.
• SurveyUSA: U.S. public opinion polling firm conducting custom survey research for media, political, and commercial clients. Comparable in custom survey methodology, public opinion focus, and reliance on media partnerships for distribution, though operating nationally rather than regionally.
• DHM Research: Portland, Oregon-based public opinion and market research firm focused on the Pacific Northwest, conducting custom survey and public policy research for government, non-profits, and corporations. Directly comparable in geography, methodology mix, and client segments to Elway Research.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/elway-research-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Elway Research