A LEADING voice in modern polling and political analysis, James Kanagasooriam is chief research officer at FocalData, where he studies public opinion and the forces shaping voter behaviour. His work sits at the intersection of data science, politics and social change, helping explain how economic pressures, technological disruption and shifting attitudes influence electoral outcomes.
At FocalData, Kanagasooriam oversees research projects examining voter attitudes and political trends, using survey data to identify patterns in public opinion. The organisation works with political organisations, businesses and media outlets, producing analysis that draws on large-scale polling and behavioural insights.
His commentary often focuses on the gap between political debate and public sentiment. Writing in The Times about defence spending, he argued that many voters remain sceptical about increasing military expenditure, highlighting a disconnect between political priorities and public attitudes.
Kanagasooriam’s work also explores deeper questions about how people respond to political and economic change. In a FocalData blog post, he examined the idea of “agency” – the extent to which individuals and institutions feel able to shape their own economic and social circumstances. He argued that alongside economic growth, a society’s prosperity and wellbeing depend on fostering “high-agency” people and institutions capable of improving their own conditions and responding creatively to challenges.
In another analysis, he explored what he described as a potential “collar flip” in modern politics. Considering the growing impact of artificial intelligence on labour markets, he suggested that technological change could disrupt white-collar professions more than some manual occupations. Such shifts, he argued, could reshape traditional class-based political alignments in both the UK and the US.
Before joining FocalData, Kanagasooriam served as head of analytics at Populus and founded a polling start-up. Over the course of his career, he has advised political and business leaders around the world on public opinion, elections and social trends.
He is also credited with originating the concept of the “Red Wall”, a term widely used to describe a group of traditionally Labour-supporting constituencies in northern England and the Midlands that shifted dramatically towards the Conservatives in recent elections.
