Government class polls student body

Over the next six weeks, three public opinion polls regarding the upcoming presidential election will be sent to Augustana undergraduate students via email.

The first two polls will be administered before the election from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 and from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4. The third poll will be administered in November, following the election’s results, though exact dates have not yet been decided.

The polls will be sent to all 1,967 part-time and full-time undergraduate students aged eighteen and older. All responses will be anonymous.

These polls stem from Augustana’s Elections, Public Opinion and the Media class, taught by Emily Wanless, associate professor of government and international affairs. Wanless headed a similar project during the presidential election in the fall of 2020. 

Wanless said she takes on an advisory role, allowing her students to take the lead on the creation of the polls. 

Each of the students in the class chose a research group responsible for an election-related topic targeting Augustana; for instance, one of the groups is holding an informational session on responsible media consumption. 

Another group is responsible for the polls. 

This group of four students is further broken down into two pairs: one focuses on pre-poll construction and communication – seniors Henry Dornbusch and Charlezton Ward – and another that will spearhead data analysis – senior Abbie Grupe and sophomore Melissa Avelino dos Santos.

To construct the polls, the four undergraduates came up with several potential questions, which they then presented to their class for input. Dornbusch and Ward emphasized the difficulty of narrowing down the poll to a length that students are willing to complete.

“You only have so many questions that you can reasonably ask within the frame,” Dornbusch said. “We asked the class on a lot of stuff, trying to figure out what their priorities were. It just shows which are the most important issues right now, and coming down to those – there’s so many.”

Wanless and the students bore in mind that how they present questions is important so as not to influence respondents’ answers.

“Words matter,” Wanless said. She gave an example: “Do we want to call it ‘abortion?’ Do we want to call it ‘reproductive rights?’ ‘Women’s health?’” 

Once the students constructed a concise list of questions, Assistant Vice Provost Jay Kahl facilitated the design of the poll in Qualtrics, a data-collection software. Because the group intends to analyze and publish its data, the polls required approval from both Kahl and Augustana’s Institutional Review Board, a faculty-led committee. 

Kahl, who has over a decade of experience in surveying, is instrumental in deciding when and what kinds of data collection are administered to Augustana’s population.

Kahl said he saw value in a poll that targets the student population of Augustana to reveal “the positionality of students,” particularly because of their age demographic.

“When we canvas the entire student body, I think we get a better idea of how both younger folks are feeling, but then also what their position is in terms of priority,” Kahl said. 

He also pointed out that young voters are not addressed in this manner, leading to an absence of their voices in the political sphere.

The student polling group expressed gratitude to Wanless for her guidance and supervision and to Kahl for his approval and logistic help.

“We’re very fortunate to be able to do this,” Ward said, adding that participation from the student body will be essential for ensuring that similar projects will be possible in the future.

All those involved in the making of these polls – Wanless, Kahl, and the student group – stress the importance of student participation, as a proportionally small set of responses would make data analysis difficult and unreliable.

“I would make a plea that if students find value in having stuff like this being done, then they need to participate,” Wanless said, directed to the Augustana student population.

The results of these polls will be published in future editions of the Mirror.