With less than three weeks until the 2020 election, deciding what matters and what doesn’t isn’t always easy.
To help cut through the noise, University Communications and the Academic Communicators Network have launched the UChicago Election Hub, a one-stop resource that seeks to connect journalists to faculty research, polling data, feature stories and upcoming virtual events hosted by the University of Chicago.
The site highlights the latest information from a variety of leading UChicago research institutes—including the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, the Urban Labs and the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago—as well as surveys and polling from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The goal is to provide accurate information and raise awareness of UChicago faculty voices and research during a historic election that will have profound implications for the nation and the world.
In the past month, UChicago faculty members have provided comments and analysis to leading media outlets—including on the merits of compulsory voting, the white supremacist plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and the threat of election night violence. They also continue to discuss pressing political issues in virtual events hosted by the University, including the motivations behind protests and the impact of the Trump presidency. On Nov. 5, an interdisciplinary panel of UChicago scholars will have a conversation to examine the outcome of the election.
NORC at the University of Chicago, which since 1941 has served as one of the nation’s leading research organizations, has partnered with the Associated Press to launch AP VoteCast—an innovative survey that debuted in 2018 after years of testing and development. By using a random, probability-based sample of registered voters to calibrate opt-in, online panels, VoteCast is able to deliver a broader portrait of the American electorate than any other election survey.
On campus, the non-partisan Institute of Politics continues to support civic engagement among UChicago students. Central to their current efforts is UChiVotes, a student-led initiative that helped register more than 70% of undergraduates to vote in 2018.
This fall, UChicago is also hosting YOU BE MY ALLY, a groundbreaking public art exhibition from renowned artist Jenny Holzer, EX’74, which draws from the College’s distinctive Core curriculum. Part of the project makes use of student submissions of get-out-the-vote messages, which will be displayed on LED trucks driven around Chicago on Oct. 24 and 30.
To learn more, visit electionhub.uchicago.edu.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
