Political polls are a central feature of elections and are ubiquitously employed to understand and explain voter intentions and public opinion. This course will examine political polling by focusing on four main areas of consideration. First, what is the role of political polls in a functioning democracy? This area will explore the theoretical justifications for polling as a representation of public opinion. Second, the course will explore the business and use of political polling, including media coverage of polls, use by politicians for political strategy and messaging, and the impact polls have on elections specifically and politics more broadly. The third area will focus on the nuts and bolts of election and political polls, specifically with regard to exploring traditional questions and scales used for political measurement; the construction and considerations of likely voter models; measurement of the horserace; and samples and modes used for election polls. The course will additionally cover a fourth area of special topics, which will include exit polling, prediction markets, polling aggregation, and other topics. It is not necessary for students to have any specialized mathematical or statistical background for this course.

This seminar is taught in Washington D.C. for students enrolled in the Washington Semester Program. It includes an orientation to observation and research in the Washington Community and a major independent research project on the politics of governance.

Democracy in the Americas is in trouble. Entrenched political, economic, and social inequality, combined with environmental degradation, weak institutions, pervasive health epidemics, weapon proliferation, and other pressing issues pose formidable challenges for strengthening democratic ideals and institutions. The Organization of American States (OAS) is uniquely poised to confront and purposively focused to strengthen peace, security, democracy, and human rights. In this community based course, students will study the role and history of the OAS while working directly with area public high school students in preparation for the OAS annual high model OAS simulation in Washington, DC.

Course participants will study the stages and strategies in running for public office and discuss the role of various influences on getting elected, including campaign finance and fundraising, demographics, polling, the media, staffing, economics, party organization, etc. The course will also examine how electoral politics varies by level -- city, state, national. Students will analyze campaign case studies and the career of the instructor himself. The instructor will also bring in speakers who can provide other perspectives on electoral politics.The instructor is the former Mayor of Philadelphia, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and is currently the Governor of Pennsylvania.

This course is designed to provide an overview of the variety of ideas, approaches, and subfields within feminist political thought. Readings and divided into three sections: contemporary theorizing about the meaning of "feminism";women in the history of Western political thought; and feminist theoretical approaches to practical political problems and issues, such as abortion and sexual assault.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.

This course explores the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in political struggles over the distribution and uses of power in the American constitutional system. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and governmental regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the powers of individuals to make basic choices, such as a woman's power to have an abortion. We will pay special attention to how the tasks of justifying the Supreme Court's own power, and constitutionalism more broadly, contribute to logically debatable, but politically powerful constitutional arguments. Readings include Supreme Court decisions and background materials on their historical and political context.