PSU Magazine Spring 1987

• • • -----·PERSONALITY·----- Though they've never dispensed anything but moral support, Hibbitts' treasured elephant and donkey decanters have weathered numerous political campaigns with the pollster. Taking the public's pulse by Joan C. J ohnson T im Hibbitts ('75) describes himself as a professional backpacker. That's what he likes to do best. But he's better known for what he calls his avocation - as pollster and political pundit. His reputation as public pulse-taker drew some 40 clients from Oregon and Washington who sought his help with opinion polling and campaign strategies during last year's election season. One of his clients was eil Goldschmidt, Oregon's new governor. So, did Hibbitts attend the Gover– nor's ball? "You've got to be kidding," he says, throwing up his arms in mock horror. "Not after he found out what 'black tie' meant," says Jennie Tucker, the one-woman "staff' of TH Research . "He wasn't about to rent a tux and all that." Formality is definitely not Hibbitts' style. He is sitting at his desk in the back office of an unpretentiou , three- room suite in a downtown office building. It has that just-moved-in look, although he's been located here for the past four years. A small card scotch-taped to the front door announces the headquarters of TH Research. He's wearing a teal backpacking shirt and new jeans. "In thi business it doesn't matter how yo u dress," he says. "If you're not competent, you'll be found out pretty quick. " Hibbitts got into the polling business shortly after graduating from Portland State. He and a friend (Adam Davis, '74), both political science majors , were "sitting around in a bar" when they came up with the idea of combining opinion surveying with politics. "If we had been the age we are now and in a bar, we probably would just have gone on drinking. We weren't smart enough or experienced enough to know it wouldn't work .... So we struggled, but we did it." The firm, no longer in existence, was called Oregon Attitudes, Inc. PSU MAGAZINE PAGE 11 "Part of our success," says Hibbitts, "was a matter of good fortune. Campaign budgets were 10 to 15 times higher than they had been in the '60s. People wanted research and they could afford to buy it." As they attracted more political clients, they also drew others from both the public and private sector. The firm grew to about a dozen people. Then , about five and a half years ago, Hibbitts split off and started TH Research. "I wanted to concentrate more on politics," he says. "I wanted something smaller, more manageable." He asked Jennie Tucker, who had formerly worked for Oregon Attitudes, to work for him. Tucker describes it as a complementary role - "I do whatever Tim isn't doing. " They work as a team, concentrating on survey design, analysis and strategies - sub– contracting the field work to another company. The fir t year on their own was rough . They survived on what they had made during the '82 political season .