Research on Physicians as Candidates
Research exploring voters’ perceptions about physicians as candidates running for elected office.
In 2022, the AMPAC Board of Directors commissioned Public Opinion Strategies to conduct in-depth qualitative and quantitative research on voters’ perceptions about physicians as candidates running for elected office. Similar research on this topic was conducted in 2013.
The research objectives included:
- Explore perceptions about physicians as candidates running for elected office.
- Identify strengths and potential challenges.
- Explore how, if at all, attitudes have shifted since 2013 when AMPAC conducted similar research.
- Discover what messages and attributes resonate most with voters.
- Identify how physician candidates may better position themselves to run for elected office.
The research consisted of:
- Four in-person focus groups of N=36 registered voters segmented by party, October 17 (Phoenix, AZ) & October 25 (Milwaukee, WI), 2022.
- A national online bulletin board discussion group of N=26 registered voters, November 1-3, 2022.
- A national online survey of N=1,001 registered voters (+/- 3.5% confidence interval), December 1-7, 2022.