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CONTACT: Pat Vaughan Tremmel at (847) 491-4892 or p-tremmel@nwu.edu or Stephanie Clemson at (847) 491-4888 or s-clemson@nwu.edu
EVANSTON, Ill. --- William Schneider, senior political analyst for CNN, and Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, will be among researchers, journalists and pollsters who will gather at a conference Saturday, May 13, to examine the role of public opinion polls in the democratic process.
Hosted by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University, the conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Norris University Center, Room 1E, on the Evanston campus.
Schneider will deliver the keynote address, "Why Polls Matter," at 1 p.m., and at 5:30 p.m. Taylor will deliver the closing talk on "The Value of Polls in Promoting Good Government and Democracy."
The conference will feature four 90-minute panels: "What Do Polls Reveal About Public Opinion and What Can They Reveal?"; "Do Politicians Pander to the Public?"; "Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy"; and "Public Opinion and Social Welfare Policy."
The rapid growth of public opinion polling over the past three decades and the increasing use of polls by politicians suggest that the public voice is being considered more frequently than in the past. But whether their increased use is evidence that democracy is working or whether polls are merely a simplistic representation of the public voice is subject to debate. This will be the first time such a forum simultaneously examines both sides of the public opinion/policymaking divide, despite its obvious importance for democratic theory.
The conference is co-sponsored by Northwestern's School of Speech, American Studies Program, department of communication studies, department of political science and department of sociology.
Conference organizers include Northwestern faculty Fay Lomax Cook, professor of human development and social policy and Institute for Policy Research director; Dennis Chong, professor of political science; Susan Herbst, professor of political science; Benjamin I, Page, Gordon Scott Fulcher Professor of Decision Making; Charles Manski, professor of economics; Jeff Manza, assistant professor of sociology; and Lawrence Jacobs, associate professor of political science, University of Minnesota.
For more information, contact Audrey Chambers: (847) 491-8712; achambers@nwu.edu. The conference schedule is posted on the Institute for Policy Research web site at: www.northwestern.edu/IPR/events.