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It鈥檚 a Tuesday evening on the third floor of the Patricia E. Harris Center for Business, Government and Public Policy. Seven Franklin & Marshall students and two of the College鈥檚 resident political polling experts gather around a conference table, laptops open and notebooks at the ready. 

This isn鈥檛 a scheduled class. It鈥檚 a gathering of eager volunteers. The students are part of a larger group of 11 juniors and seniors who have a keen interest in political polling, civics, and voter sentiment. They meet several times a semester to discuss best practices and trends in polling, how to analyze and contextualize results, and even contribute to crafting the wording of poll questions.

鈥淭hey pay attention to politics more than the average student. They have their ear to the ground in a different way than we do, so that鈥檚 really enlightening to us,鈥� said Stephen Medvic, The Honorable and Mrs. John C. Kunkel Professor of Government and a nationally recognized elections expert.

The students and their mentors gathered to discuss poll aggregators 鈥� online clearinghouses that collect results of the many polls focused on elections and political approval ratings. Examples include the , , and .

Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the co-Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at F&M, kicks off the discussion with an open-ended question: What are the benefits and drawbacks of these aggregators?

Haley Marshlick 鈥�26, majoring in English (creative writing) and government, is the first to weigh in. 鈥淭hey let you see the trends from different polls, and that balances out the overall results,鈥� she says. 

Across the table, Keith Wattenbarger 鈥�26, a joint studies major (government and English literature) and theatre minor, follows up. 鈥淭hey make a large amount of data more easily digestible.鈥�

Brooke Proctor 鈥�26 shifts to the potential downsides of aggregators. 鈥淚f there are errors, it can multiply the errors,鈥� says the government major and environmental studies minor. 鈥淚t鈥檚 finding an average, so if there are any problems with specific polling data, the average is going to be even more incorrect.鈥�

Yost and Medvic interject observations occasionally, but they mostly let the students dictate the pace and pattern of the discussion.

The group鈥檚 next meeting takes place just days after the latest poll 鈥� conducted between Feb. 18 and March 1 鈥� has closed. There are two stacks of papers the group is excited to dig into: a 20-page topline report of the 鈥檚 findings, completed by 834 respondents, and a deeper-dive document that breaks down the respondents by geography, demographics and political leanings.

The group has an opportunity that undergraduate students rarely get: they鈥檒l analyze the data, then write sections of the first draft of a polling report Yost will distribute to a national and international list of journalists and political experts.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e objective analysts. You鈥檙e talking about the distribution of opinions in this state, on these topics. The facts. So, let鈥檚 keep to it,鈥� Yost says as the collective breaks off into groups of two and three.

After an hour of discussion and early drafts of their findings, the students reconvene to share their observations. Yost and Medvic listen, probing for detail and reminding the pollsters-in-training to be wary of drawing conclusions from small sample sizes or overlooking the role of age or geography when weighing results.

Yost says the extra time he and Medvic put into this level of mentorship is worth it when they see a student light up when they make a critical connection between theory and practice.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 helpful to hear the perspectives that these students bring, what interests them, what they want to know about, and how they want to know about it,鈥� Yost says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 super to hear their ideas and exciting to see how they take the data and make use of it.鈥�

Two days later, the poll would be publicly released. Within 48 hours, it would gain coverage in a wide array of national and regional media, including the , , , and .

Proctor said the most rewarding part of the process is experiencing history in real time. 鈥淵ou get to poll from current events and see specifically what Pennsylvania residents are thinking about those events as they unfold.鈥�

For this group of undergraduates, it's a rare and remarkable experience: not just a front-row seat to history, but a hand in shaping how the world understands it.

Real-World Learning at F&M

Just like the Diplomats in the Student Polling Group, you can connect the things you care about to meaningful experiences at F&M. Discover how we'll empower you to move from theory to purpose-driven action through research, internships, volunteering, and more.

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