POLLS OF POLITICS

Gauging public opinion, surveys have become a dominant force, as they are printed alongside newspaper articles and featured on nightly newscasts. Political polling has given a slice of the public’s sentiment on issues ranging from the economy’s outlook to the President’s approval rating. During 2002-2003, undergraduate political science students at Texas Tech University had the opportunity to examine Texans’ views by conducting statewide surveys. The results made the headlines across the state, and students performed a valuable informational service for the state’s citizens.

The students collected data for two separate polls. During the Fall 2002 semester, students polled individuals to gather their thoughts on the 2002 Texas Gubernatorial race. According to the survey, 63 percent of the respondents believed that both candidates, Gov. Rick Perry and Tony Sanchez, led negative political campaigns, making 73 percent of those surveyed less receptive to both candidates. In the Spring 2003 semester, students conducted a survey that looked at citizens’ thoughts on increasing taxes on behalf of education and healthcare. In the poll, respondents expressed a willingness to raise certain revenues if doing so meant maintaining healthcare and education at their current service levels.

According to the survey, 85.4 percent of individuals polled placed education as a top priority for the state.“Throughout their lives, students will have to assess information from political polls given to them by the media,” explains Cherie Maestas, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Political Science. “Students learning how to conduct a poll is important so that they can assess the accuracy and quality of information.”

For the survey project, Maestas said her students wrote questions they had about the governor’s race. Using online surveys as models, the students created their own polls. To prepare his students for working on the tax survey, Dennis Patterson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, says he helped the students organize and fine-tune their survey questions.

“This survey project made politics and public policy real, and it tied issues to real people in this state. It gave politics a real down-to-earth perspective that students do not typically see,” he says.

Scott Morris, a senior political science and history major, from Wolfforth, Texas, says he learned the power and function of polls through working on the project. Becoming a pollster helped him to learn how to handle and interpret survey data, he says, noting that for the tax survey, he spent one to four hours in the Earl Survey Research Laboratory conducting the poll. “I think the poll had great results, and I believe the results could be used by legislators to form legislative decisions in Austin today.”

LyAnna Johnson, a junior, political science major from Odessa, Texas, says she was able to gain hands-on experience in doing research through a political survey, which will be beneficial toward her future goal of studying survey research while in graduate school. Last summer, Johnson and Patterson co-authored an academic journal article that was based on the poll’s results. The paper will examine tax issues that were presented in the survey.