Making It Count --  2008 Presidential Exit Poll Empowers LMU Students to Strengthen the Voice of Underrepresented Communities in Los Angeles

As voters across the country cast their ballots on Nov. 4, a group of 180 specially trained students from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) will be dispatched to polling locations throughout Los Angeles. Their mission is to distribute surveys to voters for a research project that will expand the voice of underrepresented minority groups in Los Angeles.

Starting at 6:45 a.m., students will arrive at 50 precincts across the city. Some distribute surveys to voters after they leave the polls. Others will work as “runners” who deliver completed surveys to LMU, where a student data-entry team will compile up-to-the-minute responses. Theirs is a non-stop operation that will culminate at 8:15 p.m., when LMU researchers from The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles (LCSLA) will release their preliminary results to the media.

The research project, “Los Angeles Votes for President: Exit Polls of the 2008 Presidential Primary and National Elections in the City of Los Angeles” is being conducted by LCSLA researchers. The Leavey Center started conducting exit polls and assessments of precinct quality in 2003, engaging student participants from the start.

“This is the largest exit poll per capita in this election,” explained Fernando Guerra, director of LCSLA and associate professor of political science and Chicana/o studies at LMU. “There will be no better data on how a city voted in November than the information we will produce.”

The choice between Obama and McCain will be a critical part of the survey, however the methodology and planning behind this exit poll delves much deeper. The survey implements a new sampling methodology developed by LCSLA researchers called the “racially stratified homogenous precinct approach.” Its purpose is to over-sample Latinos, African-Americans and Asians, so that researchers have an accurate sense of why and how these groups vote as they do in Los Angeles. The survey also gauges their opinion on the state of the city in terms of quality of life, immigration policy and education reform, and other policy issues.

Guerra says the project was specifically designed with undergraduate students in mind. The exit poll serves as a teaching tool, provides sophisticated research and gets students out in the community. “The urban setting is where most people now live, it’s where the most poverty exists and where injustices occur,” says Guerra. “We strive to educate our students to become men and women for others, and those ‘others’ are out there in the city, and we need to understand how their lives unfold.”

For students like Daniel Gonzalez, a senior political science major enrolled in Guerra’s “Racial and Ethnic Politics” course, the exit poll is an important part of his studies. This semester, he has learned about the electoral process, policy-making, survey design and analysis, as well as the importance of social mobilization. Gonzalez says that there are a lot of details involved, but the experience led him to think in terms of the “big picture.”

“It is interesting to know if people are ready to elect an African-American president and how much does race factor in voting?” said Gonzalez. “As students, we should be engaged in the political process, especially in a time of crisis like we are experiencing. Learning how laws and propositions are passed is practical knowledge that affects our daily lives in the city of Los Angeles.”

Gonzalez will be a lead student coordinator at the polls. His career goal is to conduct consulting services for Latin American trade markets in Los Angeles. He believes that much of what he has learned in class and through the hands-on project about economic behavior and demographics will enable him to develop a successful business.

Several other classes also incorporate the project in their curriculum, making the research process a multi-disciplinary teaching resource. Nonetheless, more than half of the students who participate do so because of personal interest in the topic and for the benefits associated with being part of the exit poll.

The project is supported by a research grant from The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. Students receive a stipend for their services as well as recognition in the LCSLA’s reports and Web site. They receive professional training in ethical ways of conducting research involving humans. They also are trained in polling techniques and information gathering, as well as the rules about solicitation in polling places.

Senior urban studies major and business minor Tara Freese voted in her first primary election this year. “Being so hands-on motivated me to be more proactive in politics,” said Freese, who has participated in previous LCSLA exit polls.

As a junior, Freese used LCSLA’s poll data results to write a thesis paper that compared the voting preferences of Latinos to those of African-Americans. “I was honored to be a part of something that provided such reliable results. As a voter I appreciate the value of having accurate information available,” she said.