The pollster confirmed the news in an email sent out to the client base of Secrest Strategic Services (formerly Cooper and Secrest) on Friday evening ( 22 June).

He wrote: “It is my sad task to advise you that after 28 years of service to the full spectrum of Democratic candidates, as well as a wide variety of non-political clients, our financial circumstances have left us no choice but to discontinue this work and close our business. It has been our pleasure to serve you, and I wish we could continue. But we cannot.”

The move comes just five months before the presidential election. Secrest apologised to his clients for this difficulty, saying: “I am very sorry for the hardship it represents for the campaign and for you… We’ve been a part of many notable Democratic victories, as well as many ‘smaller’, less well-known victories, all of which have contributed to the betterment of government at the local, state and federal levels.”