Bio


Douglas Rivers is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of political science at Stanford University. He is the president and CEO of YouGov/Polimetrix.

Academic Appointments


Honors & Awards


  • Executive of the Year, Research Business Report (2000)
  • Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1992-1993)
  • Innovator's Award, American Association for Public Opinion Research (2001)
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Director, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (2010 - Present)
  • Director, YouGov PLC (2013 - Present)

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., Harvard University (1981)
  • B.A., Columbia University in the City of New York, Political Science (1977)

Stanford Advisees


All Publications


  • Model-based pre-election polling for national and sub-national outcomes in the US and UK INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FORECASTING Lauderdale, B. E., Bailey, D., Blumenau, J., Rivers, D. 2020; 36 (2): 399–413
  • AN EVALUATION OF THE 2016 ELECTION POLLS IN THE UNITED STATES PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY Kennedy, C., Blumenthal, M., Clement, S., Clinton, J. D., Durand, C., Franklin, C., McGeeney, K., Miringoff, L., Olson, K., Rivers, D., Saad, L., Witt, G., Wlezien, C. 2018; 82 (1): 1–33

    View details for DOI 10.1093/poq/nfx047

    View details for Web of Science ID 000427179400001

  • The Mythical Swing Voter QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Gelman, A., Goel, S., Rivers, D., Rothschild, D. 2016; 11 (1): 103-130
  • Cooperative Survey Research ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, VOL 16 Ansolabehere, S., Rivers, D. 2013; 16: 307-329
  • The 2008 Democratic Shift POLICY REVIEW Brady, D. W., Rivers, D., Harbridge, L. 2008: 3-13
  • The 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study JOURNAL OF ELECTIONS PUBLIC OPINION AND PARTIES Vavreck, L., Rivers, D. 2008; 18 (4): 355-366
  • Do we really know that the WTO increases trade? Comment 8th Annual Conference of the International-Society-for-New-Institutional-Economics Tomz, M., Goldstein, J. L., Rivers, D. AMER ECONOMIC ASSOC. 2007: 2005–18
  • Institutions in International Relations: Understanding the effects of the GATT and the WTO on world trade Annual Meeting of the American-Political-Science-Association Goldstein, J. L., Rivers, D., Tomz, M. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. 2007: 37–67
  • "The most liberal Senator"? Analyzing and interpreting congressional roll calls PS-POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICS Clinton, J. D., Jackman, S., Rivers, D. 2004; 37 (4): 805-811
  • The statistical analysis of roll call data AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW Clinton, J., Jackman, S., Rivers, D. 2004; 98 (2): 355-370
  • Model Selection Tests for Nonlinear Dynamic Models The Econometrics Journal Rivers, D., Vuong, Q. H. 2002; 5 (1): 1-39
  • The roofs of careerism in the US House of Representatives LEGISLATIVE STUDIES QUARTERLY Brady, D., Buckley, K., Rivers, D. 1999; 24 (4): 489-510
  • Party identification, retrospective voting, and moderating elections in a federal system - West Germany, 1961-1989 COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES Lohmann, S., Brady, D. W., Rivers, D. 1997; 30 (4): 420-449
  • EXPERIMENTAL ESTIMATES OF THE IMPACT OF WAGE SUBSIDIES JOURNAL OF ECONOMETRICS Dubin, J. A., Rivers, D. 1993; 56 (1-2): 219-242
  • SOPHISTICATED VOTING IN CONGRESS - A RECONSIDERATION JOURNAL OF POLITICS Krehbiel, K., Rivers, D. 1990; 52 (2): 548-578
  • SELECTION BIAS IN LINEAR-REGRESSION, LOGIT AND PROBIT MODELS SOCIOLOGICAL METHODS & RESEARCH Dubin, J. A., Rivers, D. 1989; 18 (2-3): 360-390
  • THE ANALYSIS OF COMMITTEE POWER - AN APPLICATION TO SENATE VOTING ON THE MINIMUM-WAGE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Krehbiel, K., Rivers, D. 1988; 32 (4): 1151-1174
  • Limited Information Estimators for Simultaneous Probit Models Journal of Eonometrics Rivers, D., Vuong, Q. H. 1988; 39 (3): 347-366