The award recognizes Scott’s extraordinary impact on public opinion research over several decades. He made his mark in the field in many ways -- as a scholar, a practitioner, a teacher, and a servant of the profession, operating in each of these roles with remarkable dedication and skill. This alone would set him apart, but he is also an exceptional human being, acting with kindness, modesty, compassion, and a gentle sense of humor in every situation.
Scott’s roots are in rural North Carolina, and he still has a strong connection to the state. He attended school there: Davidson College as an undergraduate and the University of North Carolina for graduate school, where he earned a Ph.D., specializing in American politics.
He became interested in surveys as an assistant professor at Rutgers University. Later at Virginia Commonwealth University, he led a polling center. After a stint at George Mason University and working as a consultant to Andy Kohut at the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press, he took a full-time job at the Center in 2002.
When the Times Mirror Center became the Pew Research Center in 2004, Scott’s methodological expertise helped establish its reputation from its inception as the gold standard for research quality. His skillfulness, good sense, and ability to innovate kept the Center’s reputation for excellence intact through the series of methodological transformations that unsettled the field of opinion research in recent decades. He shared his insights about best survey practices in numerous published articles on survey methodology.
Scott’s advice shaped surveys across all the substantive research areas at the Pew Research Center. It enabled the Center to conduct ground-breaking research among special populations, including Muslim Americans and Asian Americans. Scott’s work is represented in hundreds of surveys preserved in the Roper Center archive.
He has also used the Roper Center archive extensively in writing about American public opinion and political behavior. He is co-author of four books on the topic, and one of these, What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters, relies heavily on the trove of knowledge questions in the archive.
Scott is a past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and later received its highest honor, a lifetime achievement award, in 2016.
We honor Scott for these achievements and for his long-standing commitment to generously sharing his extensive knowledge of public opinion and survey methods with colleagues, the next generation of researchers, and the public. It’s no wonder he’s revered as a mentor and collaborator.
Scott Keeter’s important contributions to public opinion and survey research will be recognized at the 2026 Mitofsky Award event, which will be held in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, November 12th. Funds raised are allocated specifically to enrich the archive and cultivate diversity and scholarship within the field of public opinion polling. Please sign up to receive our newsletter or check the event page for details relating to the 2026 event.