The University’s survey research group, PublicMind™, enjoyed a banner year, producing a record number of reports and generating significant media coverage.

New Jersey’s Senate race dominated the recent press coverage of PublicMind’s research. All eyes were on the race because the balance of power was in question in the United States Senate and because New Jersey Democrats nominated a Hispanic candidate for statewide office for the first time.

PublicMind provided not just the horse race numbers but key analysis. For example, as early as July, PublicMind was able to demonstrate the impact that the president’s unpopularity and the war in Iraq were having on the Tom Kean, Jr., and Robert Menendez candidacies. This was due to the efforts of Daniel Cassino, political science (Flor), who joined the University’s College at Florham this year. PublicMind also measured and analyzed the impact of Kean’s advertising.

While many other polls and media were calling it a tight race down to the wire, PublicMind, in its final report a week before the election, showed a nine- to 10-point margin for Menendez. He won comfortably in the end by eight points, 53 percent to 45 percent, with 2 percent of the votes scattered among independents.

PublicMind also expanded its zone of coverage this year and produced a series of polls on races in Delaware for the Senate, the House of Representatives and attorney general.

PublicMind provided interviews and analysis to the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal On-Line, Dow Jones Newswires, WABC-TV New York, the British Consulate, C-SPAN and, on election night, NJN. And, because the Associated Press regularly reported on PublicMind’s research, FDU appeared from coast to coast in such newspapers as the San Jose Mercury News, Times Picayune, Houston Chronicle, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald and the San Luis Obispo Tribune. (Go to http://publicmind.fdu.edu/coverage.html for a complete list.) PublicMind also translated its analysis of the New Jersey Senate race into Spanish and disseminated those reports to Spanish-language media nationwide.

In addition, PublicMind facilitated faculty research on a range of topics. With the guidance of Krista Jenkins, political science (Flor), a political scientist in Becton College with expertise in survey methodology, several faculty took advantage of the opportunity to gather survey data. Bruce Peabody, political science (Flor), pursued questions on “legislating from the bench.” Roger Koppl, economics/finance (Flor), undertook a comparison in New Jersey and Delaware on perceptions of the criminal justice system. And James Hutton, marketing (Metro), gathered data on appropriate uses of the word “customer.” Other investigations addressed consumer behavior, eminent domain, the New Jersey state budget, the gas tax and the Danish cartoon controversy. Results, tables and commentary for each poll are posted on the PublicMind Web site at http://publicmind.fdu.edu .

“PublicMind is really a team sport,” said Peter Woolley, political science (Flor) and director, PublicMind. “Great people in every college and on both campuses participate to help us succeed. It can’t work without them.” Woolley credited the faculty members who have lent their expertise in particular, along with the Office of Communications and Marketing staff and Grethe Zarnitz, secretary, social sciences/history (Flor).

December 2006 / January 2007

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Flor =
College at Florham, Madison, N.J.

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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