The Department of Political Science at Mercyhurst University. Accurate nonpartisan polling for Pennsylvanians since 2010.
Meaningful hands-on learning experiences for future leaders since 1926. Inspired by the mission of Mercyhurst University and guided by the institution’s core values, the center promotes reasoned discourse about problems facing communities, states and nations. It accomplishes this objective by providing elected officials, government agencies, news organizations, and nonprofits with accurate and unb
iased assessments of public opinion; and offering a nonpartisan forum for public debates and roundtable discussions that address pressing public problems. The centerpiece of MCAP is the state of the art computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) facility. The facility, which is located in the Center for Academic Engagement, is comprised of thirty-one interviewer stations and staffed by well-trained student research associates. In addition to public opinion polling, MCAP promotes reasoned discourse about contemporary public issues by providing residents and community leaders of Northwest Pennsylvania with an unrivalled opportunity to learn about, discuss, debate, and prepare to resolve the challenges facing the region, state and nation. The Public Affairs Forum offers a nonpartisan environment where elected officials, academicians and business leaders may address a wide range of social, political and economic issues, and where the public has the opportunity participate in the discussion.
06/17/2020
Dr. Morris was interviewed BBC's David Grossman on Donald Trump's chances of winning Pennsylvania in 2020. Students will be back in the Mercyhurst Center for Applied Politics in September working on the sixth and final poll of Erie County voters as people across the nation prepare to cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election. We can't wait to see everyone back in the lab!
Almost four years on from the 2016 election, where Donald Trump was elected President, the race for the White House has begun again in earnest. But can Presi...
05/27/2020
Though we were unable to have an in-person gathering for the 2020 Awards ceremony (and thus have no picture for 2020), the two decade long tradition of our Political Science students receiving acknowledgment continued. Once again four of our students won top graduation awards. Devin Kramer (major) won the campus-wide Presidential Excellence Award for Adult students, Lauren Abbot (minor) the Mother Borgia Egan award for top Honors Student, Brittany Warren (double major) won a Presidential Excellence Award (co-winner) for Ridge College, and Megan Quinones (contract major) won the Sister Carolyn Herman Award for Service. Congratulations to all of these amazing students!
05/21/2020
Congratulations Class of 2020!
02/20/2017
NEW POLL ON ERIE VOTERS’ PERCEPTION OF THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. Despite winning a majority the popular vote in historically blue Erie County just a little more than 2 months ago, a plurality of voters say they disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president (41% approve, 49% disapprove) and a majority of voters have an unfavorable opinion of him (47% favorable, 52% unfavorable). Only 40% of voters say things in the United States are headed in the right direction, while a majority of voters (53%) say they believe that things are off on the wrong track.
MCAP students began conducting their second poll of the academic year: Erie County residents weigh-in on gun violence, medical ma*****na, the region's economy, and other issues.
10/06/2015
The sights and sounds of MCAP. Dr. Rolfe Peterson explains experiential learning at the Center for Applied Politics.
The year of the political outsider has been a recurring theme so far in the Republican campaign for the White House.
10/05/2015
New MCAP poll - Trump/Carson tied at 18% among registered Republicans in Pennsylvania.https://www.mercyhurst.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/%3Cem%3EEdit%20Simple%3C/em%3E%20MCAP%20Polls%20/fall_2015_poll_1_final_reportdeb.pdf
10/27/2014
New MCAP poll finds voters in Pennsylvania's Third Congressional District favor Republican incumbent Mike Kelly over Democratic challenger Dan LaValle by 20 points, but 62% say that Congress is doing a poor job. See:
Consistent with a marked shift in U.S. public opinion favoring military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians supports President Obama’s authorization of air strikes against the terrorist group, according to a new poll released today by…
04/07/2014
Asked of 426 Erie County, PA voters: "Thinking about Erie County's future, what one word comes to mind?" See the full report of results for MCAP's most recent Erie County poll (below).
Asked of 495 registered voters in Pennsylvania: "If Pennsylvania lawmakers decide to make it legal to use ma*****na in the state, what single word best describes how you would feel about the decision?"
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“Consistent with its Catholic identity and Mercy heritage,” Mercyhurst University’s mission is to educate “…women and men in a culture where faith and reason flourish together, where the beauty and power of the liberal arts combine with an appreciation for the dignity of work and a commitment to serving others.” Mercyhurst community is “Confident in the strength of its student-faculty bonds…” and “…inspired by the image of students whose choices, in life and work, will enable them to realize the human and spiritual values embedded in everyday realities and to exercise leadership in service toward a just world”
The Department of Political Science, in October 1991, established its goals and aims, relying heavily on a report “to the profession” conducted by the Task Force on the Political Science Major, and published in Vol. XXIV, No. 1, March 1991, in PS: Political Science & Politics. The task force, led by Chair John C. Wahlke, was organized by the American Political Science Association as one of twelve learned societies that contributed to a national review of arts and sciences majors initiated by the Association of American Colleges. The original statement was revisited beginning in 2001, and a modified draft accepted unanimously by the departmental faculty in 2003. The goals and aims outlined in this statement inform the foundational premises of the Political Science Department, and are entirely consistent with the spirit of the Mercyhurst mission.
The department’s first premise is that we strive to operate within the parameters established by being part of the broader community that is Mercyhurst University. We believe in the Mercy tradition expressed in the University Mission Statement. As such, we see ourselves as being an integral part of the attempt to provide a liberal arts education. As Robert F. Sasseen has argued “Liberal education in its original meaning is primarily political education. It consists above all in” preparing students “for their life as citizens…Political science…is thus central to liberal education…” (Political Perspectives, Summer 1990, Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 148).
The goals established by this first premise relate to the department’s approach to majors, minors, and to all of those students taking political science courses as part of the Core, as a cognate course, or simply as an elective. We seek the overall intellectual development students while striving to see each student as individuals possessing dignity, value, and the inherent right to express ideas openly and freely. We seek to foster: curiosity and love of learning; responsibility and the ability to work both independently and cooperatively; powers of sophisticated critical analysis and in-depth study skills; creativity and abstract logical thinking; life skills such as reading, writing, persuading, negotiating, and presenting; ability to think spatially; understanding of numerical data; historical awareness; international, cross- and multi-cultural appreciation; an informed understanding of career opportunities; and a thoughtful approach to their spiritual and moral values and how they relate to their studies. Particular emphasis is given to the values of human dignity, mercy, and justice and to the issues of personal responsibility, service, and making a positive difference in the world.
Our second major premise is that political science, as a distinct yet not unrelated academic discipline, rests upon a unique body of knowledge, methodologies, and philosophical premises about the character and use of “knowledge” and how that knowledge relates to other disciplines. While appropriately provided with choices in terms of the nature of their programs of study, undergraduate majors will graduate from Mercyhurst University with a well-rounded knowledge of the major subfields of the discipline of political science and an integrative set of experiences. Further, the discipline of political science suggests not only working to expose our students to this background, but also some specific goals for our efforts with majors and minors. This includes an understanding of how political scientists think, gather evidence, process data, and reach tentative conclusions. Graduates will also develop an ability to think critically about political phenomena and thought. We also seek to foster leadership and team-work skills. We believe that this major/minor will be useful for persons planning to seek careers in education, the legal profession, state and local government, urban and regional planning, the federal bureaucracy, journalism, or in any of the proliferating quasi-public organizations which seek to monitor the political process or to influence public policy.
More importantly, we should strive for these students to be identified by the following characteristics. Our alumni should be politically concerned, aware, and literate. They should be effectively prepared for the worlds of work (formal employment in the labor market) and citizenship (civic and community life) as well as having a solid academic background for those inclined to pursue graduate studies or a law degree. Thus, specific career plans and interests aside, they should be well-prepared to comprehend and interact with the political world in appropriate ways. We recognize, and want them to recognize, that it is a world with ethnic, gender, and cultural diversity that is increasingly becoming a global community. In particular, the years since 1989 have been ones of rapid globalization of economics, business, technology, culture, and politics. People entering the workforce are faced with a rapidly changing and global environment requiring the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and the willingness to work with people from a wide array of cultures, circumstances, and perspectives.
As liberal arts university graduates with a particular interest in politics, they should receive enough in-depth training and a wide enough breadth of perspectives to follow their own inclinations to interact politically with that world whether as “simply” citizens, professional business men and women, journalists, lawyers, interest group participants, active electoral involvement, government or private sector analysts, or academic political scientists. We also believe it is crucial that our program is rigorous enough that our graduates are well-prepared for law or graduate school – since, by and large, if they want to stay within this field (and be upwardly mobile) these are the two normal paths available.
Our third, and final, major premise is closely related to the other two premises. However, it is not just focused on majors and minors, but rather all students who choose political science courses, particularly, those who use our courses to fulfill requirements in the REACH curriculum. We seek to maximize student ability to analyze, interpret, and explain the significance and dynamics of past and present political events and governmental processes; strive to increase their awareness and interest; work to convey factual information; attempt to reveal the importance and personal impact of political events and issues; and, most significantly, we seek to equip them to be able to understand, evaluate, and potentially shape the political events, actions, and problems/solutions of the future.
In sum, these goals and aims are consistent with the goals and mission statement of the university and of the discipline. Students will be taught to: think critically; develop effective oral and (especially) written communication skills; engage effectively in problem solving, bargaining, compromise, and decision making; and be exposed to a rich variety of perspectives and ideas. These are crucial components of a liberal arts education and, along with knowledge of politics and government, key components of the sort of civic education democracy depends on.
