Brock McCleary

VP, Polling / Long-suffering Mets Fan

From Philadelphia and New Jersey campaigns to K Street, Capitol Hill and Presidential politics, Brock McCleary’s experience and expertise are distinct as a strategic pollster.

Brock serves as a pollster and advisor to Members of Congress, trade associations, independent expenditure organizations, and nonpartisan public policy groups. In 2020, Brock served as Pollster to President Donald J. Trump’s reelection, and Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for President in 2024.

Brock previously held positions as Deputy Political Director, Polling Director, and Senior Advisor at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). During his tenure as a House Republican strategist, Republicans gained 63 seats in the House of Representatives in 2010 and secured the two largest majorities since World War II. In the 2014 and 2016 elections, House Republicans maintained control of Congress while Brock served as Senior Advisor to the NRCC.

In 2013, Brock left Washington, D.C. and returned home to Pennsylvania where he founded Harper Polling. As its President, Brock built Harper into a nationally recognized polling firm with a list of distinguished political and public affairs clients. In 2020, Harper Polling was acquired by Cygnal, and he joined the company as a partner.

Brock got an early start in politics as a 12-year-old volunteer on Missouri Democratic Senator Richard Gephardt’s campaign for President in 1988. The Gephardt’s campaign operated phone banks out of his mother and stepfather’s home in Harrisburg. A Kennedy disciple until the Republican revolution of 1994, Brock was elected Chairman of the Pennsylvania College Republicans in 1996.

Brock served as the Deputy Coalitions Director for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge’s reelection campaign, Political Director of the New Jersey Republican Party, and a political consultant to congressional and state legislative races in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, before heading to Washington as the Communications Director for then-Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina. In 2010, he was presented with the “Rising Star” Award by Campaigns & Elections. Brock is a RIVA-trained focus group moderator.

What was your first job?
On my 16th birthday, I got a job as a dishwasher at the Elks Lodge No. 731 two blocks from where I lived. I continued working there until I got my first job in politics.

What is your most significant accomplishment as a professional?
From Labor Day to Election Day 2020, our team conducted 62 polls for President Trump's campaign, providing insights and analysis that helped fuel the campaign's Fall resurgence and bolster Republican wins down ballot.

What motivated you to select this career path?
At age 12, I volunteered on the 1988 presidential campaign of Missouri Senator Richard Gephardt. I vividly recall the Cambria County Democratic Committee dinner in late October 1987 where I watched Gephardt inspire a room of hundreds - none more than me.

Posts Featuring Brock

New York Post: Battleground-district poll shows Trump’s path to victory — but problems for down-ballot Republicans (Cygnal Poll)

While the vast majority of congressional seats are not in play this fall due to partisan apportionments, a number are considered battlegrounds nonetheless. And in those districts, spread across Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington, the race is tight at the top of the ticket and in the battle for control of the House. Not even 1 percentage point separates Kamala Harris (48%) and Donald Trump (47.3%) in head-to-head polling of 1,503 likely general-election voters Cygnal conducted in those districts Sept. 11 through 13 — and shared early with The Post.

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Washington Examiner – 2016 Trump looks prophetic on the topics driving 2024’s election

A seismic shift in opinion is occurring among the electorate with just months until Election Day. While issues fluctuate in prominence from election cycle to cycle, pollsters are observing a sustained hardening of views among voters on two prominent 2024 election topics: illegal immigration and crime.

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Poll: Shapiro Only Ahead by 3%, Fetterman by 4%

A new nationwide poll of Ukraine released today shows Ukrainians are experiencing extraordinary stress amid the Russian invasion and would like protective and offensive weapons, as well as financial and humanitarian aid—the majority, however, no longer see a no-fly zone as a top priority. The joint Cygnal and Gradus poll surveyed 1,000 Ukrainians and included those currently in Ukraine and those who have left the country.

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Brock McCleary Named to City & State PA Political Consultants Power 50 List 

PENNSYLVANIA –  Cygnal’s Brock McCleary was named to City & State PA Political Consultants Power 50 List – the top political consultants within the state. The list includes 50 rankings that are determined by the recent political consulting work done on behalf of the candidates across Pennsylvania, factoring in wins and losses in statewide and […]

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How Bad Is Biden’s Slump?

Cygnal’s Brock McCleary was quoted in The New Yorker, giving insight into what Republicans in swing states are focused on heading towards the 2022 midterms.   “Making the argument that spending is driving inflation and that excessive social spending is keeping people out of the workforce becomes easier when the signature legislative achievement of the […]

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In New Electoral College Map, Shifting Battleground Dynamics

“I’m skeptical of the idea that if Biden were to prevail that somehow that would trigger a reimagining of the Republican Party in the aftermath,” said Brock McCleary, a Harrisburg-based pollster whose political practice specializes in working for GOP campaigns and candidates.

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Pa. Republicans’ ‘Summer of Toomey’ gives way to a political spring for gubernatorial and Senate hopefuls

“I’m skeptical of the idea that if Biden were to prevail that somehow that would trigger a reimagining of the Republican Party in the aftermath,” said Brock McCleary, a Harrisburg-based pollster whose political practice specializes in working for GOP campaigns and candidates.

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To Trump,’the Polls that Matter’ point to victory, The rest are ‘fake.’

The amount of polling from Mr. Fabrizio and Mr. McLaughlin has dwindled in recent weeks. Instead, Mr. Stepien quietly hired another pollster, Bill Skelly, who helped create the Republican National Committee’s complex modeling for voter turnout scenarios and who is conducting data analysis for the camp, and Brock McCleary, who has worked with clients who […]

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Trump has struggled with seniors. Can he make up the difference with Hispanic voters?

“I’m skeptical of the idea that if Biden were to prevail that somehow that would trigger a reimagining of the Republican Party in the aftermath,” said Brock McCleary, a Harrisburg-based pollster whose political practice specializes in working for GOP campaigns and candidates.

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Are the Polls still making the same mistake all over again?

Brock McCleary, president of Harper Polling, recently told Roll Call that voter behavior will get more mysterious. Pollsters typically model turnout using statistical methods to estimate who will be a likely voter, he explained, but that gets more difficult in a pandemic as states shake up voting methods to prevent the virus’ spread. “Is it going to […]

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