Robert Teeter
Michigan native Robert M. Teeter was president of Market Opinion Research,
a Detroit consumer research firm. For years he has undertaken survey research
for Republican political candidates. Teeter's survey research activity
on behalf of the Ford administration began well before the 1976 campaign.
Immediately following the 1974 mid-term elections and in February 1975,
surveys measured shifting perceptions of the Republican Party and President
Ford. In late 1975 Teeter established a political reference point for the
President Ford Committee. 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
Carter challenge 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 played a key role in preparing President Ford for his three
debates with Jimmy Carter. Making use of new computerized polling technology,
he provided President Ford's advisers with instantaneous reactions to the
debates by sampling Seattle voters. He plotted the summary reaction over
videotapes of the debate, allowing the presidential advisers to judge Mr.
Ford's substantive comments and delivery, and adjust his performance accordingly.