David Mermin is a partner at Lake Research Partners and heads the firm’s Berkeley office. David and his team conduct innovative quantitative and qualitative opinion research on a wide range of topics including labor issues, health care, immigration, civil rights, political reform, and retirement security. He has served as pollster and strategist for dozens of candidates at all electoral levels, including Senators Mark Begich of Alaska and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, former Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona, and Congressman Jerry McNerney of California, as well as for numerous state and local ballot initiative campaigns. His issue clients at LRP have included the AFL-CIO, Change To Win, Health Care for America Now, America’s Voice, National Immigration Forum, California Labor Federation, Herndon Alliance, Public Campaign Action Fund, SEIU, UFCW, and the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. David joined LRP in 1996. Previously he worked at The Harwood Group, a non-partisan public issues research and consulting firm, and for the Health Care Financing Administration. He has presented research findings to audiences across the country and has published articles in Health Affairs and Aspenia. A native of Atlanta, David holds an M.A. in geography with a concentration in political and urban geography from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. in political science from Brown University. When not polling or consulting, he likes playing soccer with his kids and eating great food (preferably not at the same time).

"We rely on LRP's deep understanding of the union movement and working Americans to provide strategic guidance…David Mermin and Celinda Lake have helped us innovate and measurably increase the effectiveness of our work in every election cycle since 1998." — Mike Podhorzer, Deputy Political Director, AFL-CIO