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Political Science Majors Present Their Research at Undergraduate Research Conference

The Department of Political Science at UMass, Amherst is committed to providing undergraduate students with abundant opportunities to conduct research guided by their faculty mentors, and these research activities were on full display last Friday at the state's 19th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference. More than 830 students from campuses across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts delivered poster and oral presentations across a wide range of academic disciplines throughout the day. Seven of those student presenters were from the Political Science Department. 

Among the many political science undergraduate presenters were four students from Professor Schaffner's Exit Poll Course. Jack Rosen (pictured left) presented a paper using exit poll questions he designed to analyze what tactics the American public favors in dealing with Iran. Among Jack's many interesting findings is the fact that Americans who care most about the issue of Iran tend to be those who are most likely to favor milataristic solutions. 

Laurie Roberts' research examined the success of Scott Brown's efforts to distance himself from the Republican Party on women's issues during the heated 2012 Senate campaign. Laurie also used exit poll data to show that Massachusetts voters were more likely to see Brown as representing women compared to the Republican Party, and those who saw Brown as representing women at least as well as Warren were much more likely to vote for him. 

Matt Catizone and Sarah Moffatt (pictured above) designed their exit poll questions to address public knowledge and attitudes on the issue of campaign finance. 

Other Political Science students presenting on Friday included: 

  • Matti Koponen-Robotham, "States and the Decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit"
  • Matthew Perry, "The Effects of Voter ID Laws in the United States"
  • Ryan Webler, "The Conservatization of the Supreme Court: Why And How Far?"

 

 

News Type: 

  • Student News