{"id":433,"date":"2018-09-27T13:44:44","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T13:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/09\/27\/2018927a-look-into-the-quinnipiac-polling-institute\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:42:52","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:42:52","slug":"2018927a-look-into-the-quinnipiac-polling-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/09\/27\/2018927a-look-into-the-quinnipiac-polling-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"A look into the Quinnipiac Polling Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mackenzie Campbell <\/p>\n

With 40 days until the midterm elections, the director of the nationally respected polling institute at Quinnipiac University gave an inside look into the most critical times during an election period. <\/p>\n

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Every four years, the United States holds midterm elections, general elections near the midpoint of a president\u2019s four-year term of office. <\/p>\n

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Federal offices that are up for elections are seats in the United States Congress, and all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. <\/p>\n

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While the participation is not very high during the midterms, they can be very important. <\/p>\n

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Midterms are capable of changing the political landscape and these changes impact the president\u2019s ability to pursue an agenda during the second half of his term. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Source: VOA News Created By: Mackenzie Campbell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Students, faculty, and staff were invited to join in on a conversation on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what the Quinnipiac University Poll can tell voters about the 2018 midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Douglas Schwartz, PhD, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, and Mary Snow, polling analyst and spokesperson for the poll, presented their work to the students. <\/p>\n

They shared a behind-the-scenes look into the nationally acclaimed organization and discussed what students can learn from polling data in the upcoming election. <\/p>\n

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Dr. Douglas Schwartz and Mary Snow speaking to Quinnipiac students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary Snow is a polling analyst that joined the Quinnipiac University Poll in July.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI first learned about the Quinnipiac poll when I was a reporter at CNN,\u201d said Snow.  \u201cOur political unit had strict guidelines about polls that could or could not be used in our reporting.<\/p>\n

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\u201cQuinnipiac University was on the select trusted list, and while I am no longer reporting I am still interested on why people make the decisions they do when it comes to electing leaders and voting on issues.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\u201cAs you can imagine there is no shortage of topics for us to ask about in these tumultuous times,\u201d Snow said.  <\/p>\n

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After sharing a personal experience with her first poll, Snow summed up her findings. \u201cThe moral of the story is that races don\u2019t always fit neatly into a single narrative or a single tweet. They are complicated.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Dr. Douglas Schwartz shared his experience of the 2016 presidential election with Quinnipiac students. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThere were several forecasts giving Hillary Clinton high chances of winning, calculating the odds of someone winning an election is not what we do,\u201d said Schwartz. \u201cPolls are considered more of a snapshot in a certain window of time that provides indicators.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Schwartz believes that another issue is the sheer amount of polls on the scene and who is most reliable. The Washington Post recently reached out to the Quinnipiac University Poll to help determine the reliability of a poll.  <\/p>\n

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Schwartz advises students and the media to look to see how an organization conducts their polls. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost surveys conducted online are not scientific. They are based on people who volunteered to participate and therefore the results are not representative to the population, the way a random sample is.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile polls are giving indicators, what we can\u2019t know is what will happen between now and November,\u201d said Schwartz. \u201cWhat headlines may sway opinions but also what the turnout will be and that will be closely watched among you, young voters who are a coveted group for campaigns.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Schwartz opened the floor to the students and asked why they were motivated to vote in the midterm elections. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI am motivated to vote [in the midterm elections] because I think that we need change,\u201d said senior Rachel Beaulieu. <\/p>\n

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Another student added, \u201cI consider voting a civic duty that we all should strive to achieve.\u201d When asked what issue was most important to him going towards the ballet box he said, \u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you an important issue, I am not a one-issue voter.\u201d <\/p>\n

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In a recent national poll, voters were asked how motivated they were to vote in the 2018 midterm elections. <\/p>\n

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\u201cSixty-five percent of the people we polled said that they were extremely motivated to vote in the midterm elections,\u201d said Schwartz.<\/p>\n

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Some students believed that there are barriers in place that make them unmotivated to register to vote in the midterm elections, such as living in Connecticut and the difficulty registering to vote while at college. <\/p>\n

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Professor Scott McLean, a political science professor, reminded students that it isn\u2019t too late to register to vote in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you have a cell phone and go to the secretary of state’s website<\/span><\/a>, you can fill out a form on your phone today,\u201d said McLean. <\/p>\n

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