Veteran pollster William ‘Bill’ Johnson, managing director of Johnson Survey Research Ltd, has died.
The Gleaner understands Johnson passed away early Friday morning.
Johnson, a 1966 honours graduate of Yale University in the United States, had been a fixture in Jamaican politics, conducting public opinion polls in Jamaica and the Caribbean throughout the 2000s.
At Yale, he studied political behaviour.
The results of his Gleaner-commissioned polls, in particular, would leave politicians either brimming with confidence or defensive and dismissive, depending on whether their parties were found to have the support of the Jamaican people ahead of general or local government elections.
Johnson, who also conducted polls for the People’s National Party, was often accused of releasing results unfairly skewed in that party’s favour. He however always defended the integrity of his polling, pointing to its levels of accuracy once election results were in.
In 2010, Johnson married Coleen Valentine.
In recent years, Johnson conducted political polls for The Jamaica Observer and Mello FM.
In additon to political polling, Johnson also conducted public opinion polls on issues including abortion rights and a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Up to the time of this report, there was no confirmation of the cause of his death.
