Research 2000
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Opinion polling, marketing research |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Del Ali |
| Headquarters | Olney, Maryland , United States |
Key people | Del Ali (President) |
| Products | Election polling |
Research 2000 was an American firm specializing in opinion polling and marketing research, headquartered in Olney, Maryland. Established in 1999 by Del Ali, who assumed the role of President following his experience at Mason-Dixon Political Media Research, the company focused primarily on election polling. Its clientele encompassed prominent media organizations including KCCI-TV (Des Moines), WCAX-TV (Burlington), WISC-TV (Madison), WKYT-TV (Lexington), Lee Enterprises, the Concord Monitor, The Florida Times-Union, WSBT-TV/WISH-TV/WANE-TV across Indiana, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Bergen Record, the Reno Gazette-Journal, as well as the political blog Daily Kos.
Daily Kos lawsuit
In the course of the 2008 U.S. electoral cycle, Research 2000 was engaged by Daily Kos, a Democratic-oriented blog, to perform impartial polling on presidential, senate, and gubernatorial contests, with intentions to extend this collaboration through the 2010 elections. Nevertheless, in June 2010, Daily Kos terminated their partnership after FiveThirtyEight's rankings indicated that Research 2000's performance lagged behind that of other polling firms.
Subsequently, three independent analysts—Mark Grebner, Michael Weissman, and Jonathan Weissman—examined Research 2000’s polling data and identified substantial irregularities suggestive of data fabrication. They informed Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who publicly disavowed all Research 2000 polls conducted for Daily Kos and announced intentions to pursue legal action for fraud. According to Daily Kos’s legal counsel, Research 2000 "provided us with fabricated information presented as factual." The lawsuit was formally initiated on June 30, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
On July 8, 2010, Research 2000’s business website began redirecting visitors to Wikipedia's article on opinion polling; Del Ali attributed this incident to unauthorized hacking.
By November 2010, reports suggested both parties had reached a tentative settlement agreement pending evaluation of its practicality. In May 2011, further information indicated a settlement involving financial compensation from Del Ali to Daily Kos. Despite this, a default judgment surpassing US$350,000 was entered against Research 2000 in July 2012.