David Mermin, a pollster and political strategist for over 20 years, is a partner at Lake Research Partners and heads the firm’s Bay Area office in Berkeley, California. He advises incumbents and challengers at all levels of the electoral process, as well as a wide range of advocacy organizations, independent expenditures, foundations, international organizations, and labor unions. David and his team at LRP conduct innovative opinion and message research on issues including immigration, voting rights, health care, workplace issues, financial regulation, and retirement security. He has polled for former Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, former Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Congressmembers Raul Ruiz of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, and Hank Johnson of Georgia, Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland (OR), California Assembly members David Chiu, Joaquin Arambula, and Sabrina Cervantes, and numerous state and local ballot initiative campaigns. His issue clients at LRP have included America’s Voice, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, ACLU, Americans for Financial Reform, Every Voice, AFL-CIO, SEIU, UFCW, Public Citizen, California Association of Nonprofits, Wikimedia Foundation, and the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems.

David joined LRP in 1996. He previously worked at The Harwood Group and the Health Care Financing Administration. He is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley and at academic and professional conferences. He has published articles in The American Prospect, Health Affairs, Aspenia, and The Polling Report. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he holds an M.A. in Geography from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University.