Meet New Michigan State University Trustee Dennis Denno

<p>“I graduated from Michigan State University in 1992. I met my wife, Raina, here, and we graduated together. We both live about a mile from campus. I worked in the Michigan legislature as a staffer for 17 years, all for legislators from Detroit or Flint. I was communications director for the House Dems, communications director for the Michigan Democratic Party, and started my own PR campaign consulting company in 2004. We do a lot of surveys all over the country. I also have a small gig as a civilian researcher for the Lansing Police Department Cold Case Homicide Unit.”</p><p>Research and polling have taken a little bit of a beating the last few years. What's the state of your industry?</p><p>“Polling's interesting. I'll be honest with you, I do less and less political polling and do more association and corporate polling. But it's getting tough. People are getting overwhelmed with phone calls. People don't want to answer calls on their cell phones that they don't recognize. At least in Michigan, if you still have a landline and if you still answer a landline, you're a solid voter. How do you get to those people who don't want to answer a survey? I think part of the problem is some people in this business make their surveys way too long, and it's got to be really short. </p><p>“The other thing is, when you look at politics today and you compare it to 10, 15, or 20 years ago, politics today is so much more fluid. If you look at a gubernatorial or a presidential campaign, I would argue maybe there are one or two events throughout the campaign that really sway voters, really move voters. Now, it seems like every week, almost every other day, there might be an incident or a quote-unquote "scandal" that moves the electorate. That's part of the problem we're seeing with polling. There are also a lot of fly-by-night companies that really don't do a very good job. There's no degree you need to be a pollster. Anybody could say they're doing this.”</p><p>Why did you want to be on the MSU Board of Trustees? What