8
CMU CONDUCTS
FIRST POLITICAL POLL
Future polls to benefit students, community and government
By Jessica Peterson
W
hat's important to the people in our area?
That's the $64,000-dollar question for
community organizations and local governments
everywhere. In order to serve their communities,
they need to know what their constituents want and
what their priorities are. And the answers go much
deeper than just "Republican" or "Democrat."
In today's tumultuous political environment,
these questions are harder
to effectively answer.
But a new undertaking
at CMU aims to help
local organizations and
government entities get
their finger on the pulse
of Coloradans. In the
process, the university
plans to give students
hands-on experience in
the working field of public
opinion research.
The university's new Social
Research Center (SRC) —
under the umbrella of the Redifer Institute — is starting
to dig into regional issues that may help guide local
government and non-profit leaders. "The center will
be an interface between the public, researchers and
community organizations," said Associate Professor
Justin Gollob, PhD, director of the SRC.
"We're in the formative stage now but my view is
that moving forward, when this takes off, there'll
be a large menu of different methodologies we'll
be able to offer to best answer the questions
our community partners need answered. From
interviewing, to polling and focus groups or hosting
community meetings to gather feedback."
The SRC's first endeavor was a political poll of
likely Colorado voters prior to the 2016 November
election. It received the attention of media outlets
around the state — and the nation — for correctly
predicting that Hillary Clinton would lead Donald
Trump among Coloradans voting in the presidential
race. But what was truly unique about the poll was its
attention to statewide ballot issues that were getting
little, if any, attention from other pollsters.
"With Rocky Mountain PBS as our media partner,
the poll helped draw attention to other ballot issues,
third party candidates and things that get lost in
"With Rocky Mountain PBS as our media
partner, the poll helped draw attention to
other ballot issues, third party candidates and
things that get lost in the big national polls."
— Justin Gollob, PhD
