Trevor Tompson is senior vice president of Public Affairs and Media Research. He is also the Director of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Tompson is a political and social researcher with a specialization in research for public release. He has conducted hundreds of surveys on a wide range of topics, including politics and elections, racial attitudes, health care policy, technology, and sports and entertainment. He has conducted research in dozens of countries including the United States, the E.U., and countries such as Cuba, Russia, and Vietnam.
Tompson was one of the founders of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a partnership of AP and NORC that aims to combine the best of journalism and social science research to bring insights about important issues to policymakers and the public. He was also instrumental in creating the Media Insight Project, a partnership of AP, NORC, and the American Press Institute to better understand how people consume news. Trevor led the team at NORC that developed AP VoteCast, the next generation election survey data product developed as an alternative to the legacy U.S. media exit poll.
Prior to joining NORC, Tompson was global director of polling for AP, the world’s largest independent news agency, where he also served as polling editor and a senior analyst for political and elections coverage. He has also held positions with several other research companies and universities.
Tompson graduated with a degree in political science from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and he received graduate level training in survey methodology, political science and political psychology at Northwestern University and The Ohio State University. Tompson’s work has been published in leading academic journals including Public Opinion Quarterly and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. His surveys have also been covered by media around the globe, including on every major national television newscast in the United States and on the front pages of hundreds of newspapers.
Tompson is a past member of the executive council of the World Association for Public Opinion Research and has held several other offices in professional organizations, including as a member of the professional standards committee of AAPOR.