The students in Professor Shamira Gelbman’s political science class, Election Polls & Public Opinion, were busy on Election Day, as the group did their own exit public polling at three voting sites around Montgomery County.
Over the course of the semester, they gained greater understanding of the polling process, including history, methodology, and outside influences. Recently, the class experienced a “polling boot camp,” where the 15 students learned how to formulate questions, build a survey, and most importantly, execute it.
It was import for the students to get out and engage with the voting public.
“Otherwise, the challenges of polling that we talk about in class remain abstractions,” Gelbman said. “We can talk about people not giving honest answers, for example, but they only actually feel that happening when they are actually interacting with the public. They get to see the reality of interacting with the public and what it means to seek their opinions.”
To engage with the public on Election Day was intimidating.
“I was nervous going up to people, especially in today’s political climate and the narrative around polls and elections,” said Gage Businger ’25. “I did feel some tension. It was intimidating to say, ‘I’m interested in your opinion,’ and it was at times harder to convince people to participate.”
The students got more than 300 voters in Montgomery County to respond to their 21-question survey. Last week, the class presented their findings to campus, providing information on demographics, issues and motivations, and how their polling compared with national averages.
The insights shared helped the students realize the many varied opinions that exist outside of campus.
“The most valuable part of this process is in understanding the beliefs and ideas outside of Wabash,” said Morgan Govekar ’26. “Sometimes we get really constrained to the bubble of campus. This process helped us to better understand the community around us.”
To Businger, the polling experience helped him better voters and the voting experience.
“What I take from this class is a better understanding of why voters feel the way they do,” he said. “What are the things they value and what do they pay attention to? When we present all these figures, we have a better understanding of why this demographic voted this way or why this population voted that way. That has been important to experience in this class.”
In early October, the students led a community discussion on polling literacy in an event sponsored by the Montgomery County League of Women Voters and the Community-Engaged Alliance. When that experience is added to the knowledge gained through exit polling, Election Day becomes a pivotal one for the group’s development. “When they are out there helping each other, chatting throughout the day, and interacting with people, they really crystallize as a cohort,” Gelbman said. “They take on some kind of sophistication as student pollsters, as opposed to simply taking a test and moving on. I’ve noticed a palpable change in the way the classroom feels since Election Day.”
