To read this post in Spanish, click here.

This Sunday’s election in Venezuela seemed to be a foregone conclusion: many assumed Nicolás Maduro, right hand man of Hugo Chavez and his hand-picked successor, would easily claim victory. And they did so with just cause: only six months ago, Chávez handily won re-election by an 11-point margin, winning even more votes than his 2006 victory. Yet this was not the case on Sunday. The announced result gave Maduro a victory of just over a percentage point – a surprise for many. But for those systematically listening to voters, Maduro’s win was always on shaky ground.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner has done extensive public opinion research in Venezuela – hundreds of focus groups and scores of surveys – and the focus groups we conducted in Caracas just nine days after Chavez’s death among swing voters showed a new opening for challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski.[1]

The Australian Labor Party turned to GQR—as it had in the New South Wales state elections in 2007—to give focus to the campaign.  With a new, relatively unknown Prime Minister and elections only weeks away, the ALP had to introduce Julia Gillard, lay out her agenda for Australia’s future in a compelling way, and define her opponent Tony Abbott quickly and convincingly.

In addition to the campaigns Greenberg Quinlan Rosner helped wage and win in the United States in 2012, this was also an eventful year for our international political practice.  In all, we helped parties and candidates conduct 14 campaigns across 10 countries.

From Britain, to Israel, to the Republic of Georgia, to the effort to replace Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, we conducted research and provided campaign advice for some of the world’s outstanding progressive leaders and parties. These campaigns spanned almost every electoral level, including races for parliament, president, governor, mayor, municipal council, and referenda.