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Three East Stroudsburg University students and their professor presented a paper at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association annual conference on Friday, April 12 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.

Adam McGlynn, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, taught a Political Behavior course during the fall 2018 semester. Students in that course conducted an exit poll as part of a course project during the 2018 midterm election. The goal of the project was for students to apply what they had learned in the course related to survey design, implementation and data analysis.

Political science majors Lauryn Antoine a junior from East Stroudsburg, Pa., Tyrone Norwood, senior from Philadelphia, Pa., and Caitlyn Stout, a junior from Milford, Pa., continued to work on the project at the conclusion of the course, culminating in the paper presentation at the conference. The exit poll found that the economy and health care were Monroe County voters’ primary issues of concern and that those voters most concerned about health care were three times more likely to vote for democratic candidates. The salience of health care was thus a key factor in the Democratic Party’s success in the 2018 election after President Trump’s victory in the Commonwealth in 2016. The students said it was an amazing experience.