ROBERT M. TEETER PAPERS, 1967-2004

For nearly 40 years Robert M. Teeter was a leader in survey research and involved in campaign strategy for Republican presidential campaigns, and gubernatorial and senatorial candidates in nearly every state. Teeter participated in the senior management of seven Republican presidential campaigns, from Richard M. Nixon in 1968 to the George H. W. Bush re-election bid in 1992, of which he was national chairman. In addition to his work in the United States, Teeter also conducted research in Canada for the Progressive Conservative Party during the 1970’s and 1980’s (this work is not represented in the Teeter Papers). Many of the research techniques he helped develop have become standard for today's political opinion researchers.

Robert Teeter’s interest in politics became evident very early in his career. In 1964 he participated in the George Romney for Michigan governor campaign while teaching at Adrian College, and in 1966 he served as the Field Director for the Michigan Republican Party.

In 1967, Teeter joined Market Opinion Research (MOR), one of the largest, most highly respected political research firms in the country. He directed the Political Research Division, and then rose to Executive Vice President in 1973 and President in 1979. During the 1968 presidential election, the research firm Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) coordinated activities of the polling firms during the campaign, but Teeter and MOR contributed many of the surveys. As with most national elections, several polling firms participated in the survey research because it was too large of a job for just one firm.

In late 1971 and 1972, Teeter helped the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) coordinate the activities of at least three national polling firms working on the Nixon campaign--Market Opinion Research of Detroit, Decision Making Information of Los Angeles, and Opinion Research of Princeton. Teeter designed the overall polling strategy, oversaw the administration of questionnaires, stipulated the data analysis procedures, and reported the results to the White House and Republican campaign organizations in key states through memoranda. Teeter’s primary responsibility was to write succinct memoranda summarizing findings of the studies on national and local issues. Data from each state and national study was analyzed by comparing voting behavior groups (Republican, Democratic, Independent), candidate preference groups, geographic region, and selected demographic groups (religious preference, race, gender, age). Additional analyses were done for individual states and for major media markets. The primary goal of the studies was to provide the President’s campaign managers with detailed trend data needed to select target states, plan campaign strategy, and focus efforts within individual states. Teeter also prepared special reports as the campaign developed and analyzed trends from the 1972 vote.

During the Ford Administration, Teeter conducted survey research on behalf of the Republican National Committee. Surveys conducted immediately following the 1974 mid-term elections measured significant shifting perceptions of the Republican Party and President Ford. During the 1976 primary campaigns, Teeter coordinated surveys in the key states and initiated daily tracking techniques in the North Carolina and Wisconsin primaries. Studies in June 1976 served to assess opinion after the tough Ford-Reagan primary battles and to clarify strategies for the fall campaign. Throughout September and October, Teeter monitored the challenge by Jimmy Carter in one of the closest Presidential races in American history. His election night telephone polls and post-election analyses were a first attempt to clarify voting patterns in the 1976 election. Teeter also played a key role in preparing President Ford for his three debates with Jimmy Carter. Making use of new computerized technology, he provided President Ford’s advisers with instantaneous reactions to the debates. He plotted a summary of voters’ reactions to videotapes of the debate, allowing the presidential advisers to judge Ford’s substantive comments and delivery, and adjust his performance accordingly. The 1976 campaign was the first time daily tracking and voter perception analyses were used in a political campaign.

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Teeter worked with George H.W. Bush in his attempt to secure the Republican presidential nomination. After it became apparent that Ronald Reagan would have the nomination, Teeter worked with Reagan and James A. Baker to help secure the Vice Presidential nomination for Bush. While Reagan’s chief pollster and research coordinator was Richard Wirthlin of Decision Making Information, Teeter and MOR worked with Wirthlin and conducted polling activities for both the 1980 and 1984 campaigns. In addition, Teeter coordinated the advertising for the 1984 campaign.

In 1987, Teeter left Market Opinion Research. He founded Coldwater Corporation, and his sole client was the George Bush for President Committee. Teeter worked full-time as a senior advisor and was heavily involved in the external part of the campaign – he was responsible for polling, policy development, speech writing, message development, and communication. Teeter and Mary Lukens (MOR Political Division Manager and Teeter assistant since 1975) coordinated the polling activities for the election, a large portion of which was done by MOR. Although Lukens moved to Washington, DC to work on the campaign, Teeter commuted between Washington and his home in Michigan. Following the 1988 election, Teeter was co-director of the Office for Presidential Transition, and he and Lukens remained in Washington, DC through January 1989.

In early 1989, Mary Lukens left Market Opinion Research and joined Teeter as he opened the Ann Arbor office of Coldwater Corporation, a consulting and research firm that would provide business services in the areas of strategic planning, marketing and public affairs. Teeter considered himself “retired” from politics, although he did have a few political clients at this time. Instead, the company focused on its main business clients: NBC and The Wall Street Journal, Ford Motor Company, Guardian Industries, and Verizon (and its predecessors). They also took on occasional projects for organizations such as the Council for Excellence in Government and the Educational Testing Service.

In December 1991, Teeter took a leave of absence from Coldwater business clients to become National Chairman of George H.W. Bush’s re-election campaign. Again, Mary Lukens moved to Washington, DC and coordinated the polling for the campaign, which was mostly done by Fred Steeper at Market Strategies, Inc. Teeter had no official roles in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections, and his focus again shifted to his business clients. However, he was, at times, called on for informal campaign advice. For example, during the 2000 election, Teeter informally advised George W. Bush in his search for a Vice Presidential running mate.

The Teeter Papers
The Teeter Papers are particularly useful for understanding public policy trends, public opinion, voter behavior, candidate effectiveness, media usage, and political polling techniques used to study American attitudes during the 1970s-2000s. They contain public opinion data, survey analyses, working papers, and background material from 1967-2004 that document Teeter’s work at Market Opinion Research and Coldwater Corporation; his work as a key Republican Party campaign strategist; and his role as an advisor to Vice-President George H.W. Bush and Chairman of his presidential re-election campaign in 1992. The papers also document Republican campaign strategy, the history of national and state election campaigns, and reveal Teeter’s thoughts about trends, issues, and party realignment at given times.

The papers of Robert M. Teeter were given to the Ford Library in two major donations, each with its own deed of gift. The first donation was given to the Library by Robert Teeter in 1985 and includes some additional material given in 1998. In 2004, Elizabeth Teeter donated a substantial addition to her late husband’s papers. Below is a description of the material in each donation.

First Donation:
The first donation of Teeter papers primarily documents his survey research activity during the 1972 presidential campaign and national polling efforts leading up to and during the 1976 presidential campaign.Three-quarters of this material consists of detailed computer-generated tables and narrative summaries of responses to national and state-level surveys in four waves during the 1972 campaign. The donation also contains the results of three surveys conducted prior to the start of the 1976 primary contest, tabulations from the national-level waves of campaign surveys, tables and reports from studies in Republican priority states, and summaries of national voting trends. While not as detailed as the 1972 campaign material, the surveys completed for the Republican National Committee and the 1976 campaign portray changes in voter opinions over the course of the Ford administration.Of particular value are two series of memoranda Teeter wrote to President Nixon's 1972 re-election committee managers and President Ford's 1976 campaign advisors on the polling process and on the findings of the studies on specific issues, voting groups and trends in public opinion. Although poll findings are not often linked directly to campaign strategies, the memoranda are a clear reminder of the information available to White House staff that monitored the campaign's progress.

The material hints at the underpinnings of Republican strategy for both the 1972 and 1976 campaigns and illustrates information available to the White House and the Republican National Committee. It is a useful counterpoint to media coverage of the candidates, showing the extent to which the press reflected opinions of prospective voters. In addition, the Ford administration portion of the collection supplements extensive holdings on the 1976 campaign already available for research at the Ford Library.

Second Donation:
Elizabeth Teeter’s donation expanded the breadth of the Teeter Papers far beyond the 1972 and 1976 presidential elections. This second donation documents public opinion, demographic information, campaign issues, voter trends, election strategy, vote goals, and election analyses for use in presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections from 1976-2004. The second donation also contains surveys conducted by Teeter and Coldwater Corporation in coordination with Peter D. Hart Research Associates.

The election material centers on George H.W. Bush’s 1988 and 1992 presidential election campaigns, but materials related to other elections do appear. For example, there is a copy of Public Opinion in Late 1967, a report prepared by Opinion Research Corporation for a Republican National Committee meeting. The report was an attempt to predict what issues would be important during the 1968 presidential campaign. Topics discussed include President Lyndon Johnson, the war in Vietnam, racial issues, government regulation, inflation, and the economy. The donation also contains a duplicate set of the memoranda Teeter wrote to President Nixon’s 1972 re-election committee managers on the polling process and study findings on specific issues, voting groups and trends in public opinion.

The Mary Lukens’ Working File, Individual State File, and Election Results and Analyses contain materials that were accumulated over time relating to particular elections, states, or issues. These files were then used to provide background information for future elections. They contain public opinion surveys, exit polls, memoranda, correspondence, reports, analyses, notes, charts, publications, and clippings. Of particular note is a group of U.S. National Post-Election Surveys that Market Opinion Research conducted for the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee following the 1982-1988 elections.

This donation also contains a series of Robert Teeter’s speeches and interviews that are an excellent source to identify Teeter’s thoughts about politics, particular campaigns, issues, voting behavior, demographics, and public opinion at a given time. They document findings from surveys, his involvement in presidential campaigns, and the business and non-profit organizations where Teeter spoke.

Also included is a small series of personal and professional correspondence between Robert Teeter (as National Chairman for President George H.W. Bush’s re-election campaign) and the general public, corporate executives, congressmen and members of President Bush’s cabinet. The material primarily concerns the 1992 presidential campaign, and includes suggestions relating to strategy, people, and resources for improving the George H.W. Bush/Dan Quayle campaign. Approximately half of the documents are letters to, or forwarded to, Robert Teeter regarding possible employment on the campaign staff. Most of the strategy suggestions relate to the economy, health care, the perceived trustworthiness of the candidates, and campaign advertising.

The Teeter Papers contain several series of surveys that Teeter and Coldwater Corporation conducted in coordination with Peter Hart of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, a leading Democratic survey research firm in Washington, D.C. They worked together on a series of national surveys for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal from 1989 to 2004. This was first time an outside firnomic, and social issues, including the federal budget, the media, Bill Clinton’s affair and subsequent impeachment, abortion, campaign finance, crime, drug abuse, education, energy, the environment, health care, inflation, sports, taxes, television, and unemployment.

Hart and Teeter coordinated on two other series of surveys represented in this collection. First, they conducted surveys that were commissioned by The Council for Excellence in Government. They questioned the general public, government workers, and business leaders on their attitudes towards the role and effectiveness of all levels of government and young adult interest in public service careers. Several surveys from 2000-2003 also studied the use of the Internet and other technologies in the move toward more “e-government” services. The Educational Testing Service also sponsored a series of surveys that measured attitudes of the general public, parents, educators, and policymakers on education, education reform, teacher quality, standards, and higher education during 2001-2004.

The second donation also includes significant material that is currently unprocessed and not available for research at this time. This material includes 1988 and 1992 presidential campaign files, Robert Teeter desk files, George H.W. Bush administration files, General Subject files, publications, and a video collection that documents campaign advertisements, public opinion focus groups, and candidate debates for presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections. Portions of this material will remain closed for an extended amount of time due to donor restrictions.

Related Materials (June 2005)
Related open materials on the 1976 Presidential campaign can be found in: the files of Richard Cheney (Assistant to the President); the files of Dorothy Downton (Personal Secretary to the President); the files of Rogers C.B. Morton (Chairman of the President Ford Committee); the records of the President Ford Committee; the Presidential Handwriting File; the files and papers of Michael Raoul-Duval (Special Counsel to the President); the files and research interviews of A. James Reichley (White House Consultant); the papers of Robert Visser (Chief Legal Counsel for the President Ford Committee); White House Central Files categories PL – Political Affairs, SP – Speeches, and TR – Trips; and White House Special Files Unit boxes 1 through 3 (debate preparation).

The George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas has an additional 34 feet of Robert Teeter papers, mostly related to Bush’s 1980, 1988, and 1992 presidential campaigns. Researchers interested in further documentation of the 1972 campaign should contact the National Archives’ Nixon Presidential Materials Project in Washington, DC for information on available holdings. Also, Albion College holds the analysis memos for the NBC News/The Wall Street Journal national surveys.