Voters not showing much pride in Clinton, Trump

A display of real time live social media inside the Wells Fargo Center at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 26, 2016. Credit: Gabrielle Mannino

A display of real time live social media inside the Wells Fargo Center at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 26, 2016. Credit: Gabrielle Mannino

Penn State’s Professor of Political Science Michael Berkman and Christopher Beem, the managing director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy at Penn State, penned an op-ed that was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Below is an excerpt from this article.

“With Hillary Clinton accepting the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia this week, we might expect that Americans, and especially women, are taking pride in her historic achievement as the first woman to lead a major party ticket. That is certainly what happened in 2008 when Americans of all stripes expressed pride that the nation had nominated its first African American candidate.

“Even if they did not support Barack Obama, many Americans recognized the historic nature of the election. However, a recent Mood of the Nation Poll by Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy shows that going into the Democratic convention, this was not the case.

“The scientific poll posed a series of open-ended questions to a representative sample of 1,000 Americans. It allowed ordinary citizens to tell us what is on their minds without restricting them to a small number of predetermined answers.”

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Preliminary research: Protests at DNC focus on money and corruption in politics

Members of the organization Up To Us record a video for Bernie Sanders outside the Democratic National Convention on Monday, July 25, 2016. They believe he shouldn't give up but should fight through to the election in November. Photo by Antonella Crescimbeni

Members of the organization Up To Us record a video for Bernie Sanders outside the Democratic National Convention on Monday, July 25, 2016. They believe he shouldn’t give up but should fight through to the election in November. (Photo by Antonella Crescimbeni/Penn State College of Communications)

Preliminary research from political science Professor Lee Ann Banaszak and Penn State students who are polling protesters outside of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) show that money and corruption in politics are major reasons why people are taking to the streets in Philadelphia.

Lee Ann Banaszak

Lee Ann Banaszak

The researchers found that compared to the rallies and protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, events were much bigger and much more varied.

“We estimate approximately 5,000 to 10,000 people turned out across the city for an event on Monday. This constitutes 10 to 20 times the number of people outside the RNC,” Banaszak said.

The team surveyed a number of events spread between City Hall/Dilworth Park and the Wells Fargo Center, including Capitolo Park, Marconi Park and FDR Park. These events included:

  • Occupy the DNC Convention
  • The Migrant Rights March on the DNC
  • Bernie Sander’s March
  • Equality Coalition March on the DNC
  • Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign

In their first day of surveying people, the researchers spoke to 223 individuals over the course of the day. Response rates were very high with 87 percent agreeing to complete the survey.

Preliminary results

Very preliminary results showed that “people outside the convention were largely focused on issues of money and corruption in politics,” Banaszak said. “Racism and racial inequality — which was a large theme in Cleveland at the RNC — was less prevalent as a theme.”

Banaszak added that despite the media emphasis on a “Dump Trump” movement at Cleveland, the people participating in events outside the DNC were much more focused on changing the party’s nominee on this first day of the survey.

Banaszak said that the researchers’ survey method is different from past polling methods in that it helps take the personal bias out of the polling. Additionally, some preliminary data will continue to be available quickly because the researchers are submitting their findings through iPhones to a cloud-based database.

Three surprising facts about the protesters at the Republican National Convention

Protester Chelsea Byers, right, of Los Angeles, pretends to use money to wipe sweat from the brow of a giant Donald Trump head worn by Alice Newberry of Washington State. They are joined by Rebecca Green, left, of Cleveland. The women, members of "Code Pink," marched with other protesters through Public Square in Cleveland on Monday, July 18, 2016 during the Republican National Convention. / Photo by Antonella Crescimbeni

Protester Chelsea Byers, right, of Los Angeles, pretends to use money to wipe sweat from the brow of a giant Donald Trump head worn by Alice Newberry of Washington State. They are joined by Rebecca Green, left, of Cleveland. The women, members of “Code Pink,” marched with other protesters through Public Square in Cleveland on Monday, July 18, 2016 during the Republican National Convention. / Photo by Antonella Crescimbeni

The Penn State students who attended the RNC talk about their research methodology and findings in The Washington Post. Read and excerpt of this article below:

“During the RNC, our team of 14 researchers covered all permitted rallies, marches and the official protest areas outside the convention. This included the March to End Poverty Now, several Stand Together Against Trump marches, rallies and demonstrations, and the pro-Trump America Unity Rally.”

“Our survey protocol was based on the Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing Contestation project. The protocols designed by this project have been implemented at dozens of protests in Europe and South and Central America. In Cleveland, we used several techniques to sample participants in various forms of demonstrations, from stationary crowds at protest sites to marches down the streets.”

Read more at The Washington Post.

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