Who We Are
An independent public opinion research organization built on the premise that good polling is a public good — and that transparency is the foundation of credibility.
Pollfinity Research LLC exists to produce rigorous, independent public opinion research on American elections, policy debates, and civic questions — without the sponsorship conflicts, partisan motivations, or methodological shortcuts that have eroded confidence in the polling industry.
We believe voters, journalists, and researchers deserve access to high-quality survey data that is transparently documented and honestly reported. We believe third-party and independent candidates deserve to be included in polling, not excluded to simplify results. And we believe the credibility of a poll rests entirely on the quality of its methodology — not the prestige of its institutional sponsor.
Pollfinity Research LLC was organized as a California limited liability company in March 2026. The organization was founded in response to a specific gap in the political polling landscape: the near-total exclusion of third-party and independent candidates from early-cycle survey research.
Standard polling practice treats ballot questions as binary — Democrat vs. Republican — until a third-party candidate has polled above some threshold in other surveys. This creates a circular problem: candidates cannot demonstrate viability without polling data, and they cannot appear in polling until they demonstrate viability. The result is structural invisibility for serious non-major-party candidates, even those with demonstrated electoral records.
Pollfinity Research was founded to break that cycle. Our inaugural survey — a three-way poll of the 2026 New York Governor's race including Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe — is the direct embodiment of that founding purpose.
We also believe that AI-assisted automation can produce methodologically sound polling at a cost structure that enables consistent, independent operation — without reliance on campaign funding or media sponsorship. This is the operational bet at the center of the Pollfinity Research model.
Founder & Research Director
Lars Mapstead is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience building and scaling technology and media companies in California. He has operated at the intersection of data, digital platforms, and civic engagement for much of his career.
Lars understands politics from the inside. He was a 2024 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate and is currently running for U.S. Congress in California's CA-19 district in 2026. That firsthand experience — watching third-party candidates systematically excluded from polling — is what drove him to build Pollfinity.
His founding of Pollfinity Research reflects a conviction that the methodological tools of modern data science — when applied honestly — can produce public interest research that traditional media and academic pollsters have consistently failed to provide: specifically, early, rigorous measurement of races that include third-party and independent candidates.
Pollfinity Research LLC is structured and operated as a fully independent research organization. Our independence is maintained through the following commitments:
These commitments are stated here as a matter of public record. Any departure from them would be disclosed immediately. We welcome questions about our funding, methodology, or operating structure at polls@pollfinity.com.