Dr. Blendon directs the Harvard Program on Public Opinion and Health and Social Policy. The Program's focus is on the roles public opinion and leadership opinions play in the formation of our nation's domestic agenda. Researchers in the program concentrate on analyzing existing survey data and conducting original opinion surveys. Students in the program help researchers monitor and synthesize survey data to identify key trends in public opinion and their relationship to the nation's changing health and social policy agenda. More than 75 private and government organizations in the United States and around the world conduct the surveys.
Harvard researchers have access to an archive of more than 30,000 survey questions asked from the 1930s to the present day. They use this data to analyze changing American views on a range of topics. These topics include priorities for domestic spending, the reform of our health care system, Americans' confidence in and satisfaction with managed care organizations, abortion, welfare reform, distrust in government, Social Security, gun control, and the role of health and social issues in presidential and congressional elections.
In addition, the Harvard program works directly with national survey firms to conduct specialized surveys of what the public knows about specific issues, their core beliefs and values, and their preferences for changes in the future. Since its inception, the program has co-directed more than 35 specialized surveys. Three of these were series conducted in cooperation with The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.