Clifford Young is a Visiting Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service. He is both a veteran pollster and an accomplished business leader, with decades of experience building research-driven organizations in the United States and Brazil.
An expert in public opinion, elections, foresight, societal trends, and political messaging, Clifford played a central role in transforming Ipsos into a polling powerhouse in the U.S., where he held multiple president-level roles over the past decade. At Ipsos, he led major research initiatives across North and South America as well as global markets, delivering actionable insights to decision-makers in government, media, and business. Among these efforts, he spearheaded the firm’s signature Global Populism Tracker, which continues to monitor nativist sentiment across dozens of countries.
A sought-after analyst on elections, voter behavior, and political risk, Clifford regularly appears on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox News, and C-SPAN. His work and commentary have been featured in The Washington Post, USA Today, Axios, NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and ABC News, among others.
Clifford has taught on public opinion, forecasting, and decision science at the University of São Paulo, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University. His most recent book, Polls, Pollsters, and Public Opinion: A Guide for Decision-Makers (Cambridge University Press), offers a practical framework for interpreting polling data and its role in democratic life. His forthcoming book with Kirby Goidel, Nativist Nation: Populism, Grievance, Identity, and the Transformation of American Politics (De Gruyter, September 2025), explores the ideological realignment reshaping U.S. politics.
Currently, Clifford’s research focuses on two major themes:
- Decision-making under uncertainty
- The measurement of populism, grievance, and related constraints in democratic systems</li
He also publishes speculative essays on politics, science fiction, and future orientation on his Substack Polling and Patterns.
