The Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion
Pennsylvania presidential polls, climate change opinion polling, and more — this state-of-the-art public opinion research center has been conducting important survey research since 2001
The Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) makes headlines each election year as it conducts U.S. election surveys that are regularly found to be among the best in the nation. In 2024, Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight ranked MCIPO in the top 4% of polling organizations nationwide based on quality and accuracy of work. The institute, situated within a highly selective liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, provides ample hands-on learning experiences for students interested in political science, public health, sustainability studies, and other disciplines.
The History of Our Research Center
The MCIPO — known around campus as simply “the polling institute” — is a fixture on campus. The first surveys took place in the fall of 2001, a year after the institute’s founder and director, Professor of Political Science Chris Borick, came to Muhlenberg.
“Like everything at Muhlenberg, the goal was to have a student focus,” Borick says. “Students would play a primary role in the management of the institute, students would take on ownership of projects and various functions of the institute, and the data would contribute to academic study.”
It got its start on the lower level of Trexler Library, where student workers would make phone calls, log responses, and do some data analysis. Now that the institute is housed in the Fahy Commons for Public Engagement and Innovation, the call center is gone and the data collection is outsourced to a trusted vendor. This means that student workers have more opportunities to work with the data: digging in to look for trends or surprising data points, utilizing statistical software, and writing up their analyses.
U.S. Election Surveys, Electoral Processes, and Political Issues: The Data Tells a Story
MCIPO consistently ranks near the top of national pollsters for its quality of work and accuracy. Its location (in a purple district in a purple state) means national attention to its Pennsylvania presidential polls and congressional polls in election years, when Borick typically gives around 700 interviews. MCIPO polls in the 2024 elections were covered in The New York Times, Newsweek, the New York Post, and other national and local outlets.
“Seeing [Muhlenberg’s] name out there in [the media] helps Muhlenberg in terms of its relevance in major discourse that’s going on in the world,” Borick says. It shows that Muhlenberg is “a place that values its role in helping students to think and to be engaged in such discourse. When a student or a parent or an alum sees Muhlenberg in a national article or an international article or an international show, it’s a symbol of what we do at Muhlenberg.”
Gauging Opinion on Climate Change, Fracking, Renewable Energy, and Electric Vehicles
The MCIPO remains consistently active through its other work conducting surveys on environmental and public health issues and collaborating with community partners (including school districts, municipalities, and local health networks) to gather and analyze information that’s beneficial to them.
“Everybody loves a horse-race poll, to see who’s up and who’s down; I understand that. It has its own role,” Borick says. “The surveys that have given me the most pleasure are our studies that look at policy and issues. That’s where I think the most valuable aspects of our research can be found.”
For example, the MCIPO biannually conducts the National Surveys on Energy & Environment (NSEE), which include questions that illuminate American sentiment on “hot button” issues like fracking, local and federal efforts to mitigate climate change, renewable energy, and electric vehicles.”
Public Perception of COVID Masks, Mental Health, Vaccines, and Other Health Care Issues
Working in concert with Muhlenberg’s public health program, the MCIPO has conducted surveys to examine opinions on a variety of Pennsylvania public health issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the MCIPO collected survey data on COVID vaccines/policy and masking. It has also conducted polling on issues like marijuana legalization and the prevalence of opioid abuse in Pennsylvania.
Behind the Scenes: Polling Institute Staff and Student Involvement
Borick, the institute’s director, has been with Muhlenberg for 25 years. He teaches courses in political science, public health policy, and environmental policy, as well as a first-year seminar called Springsteen’s America. He holds a bachelor’s from The Pennsylvania State University, a master’s from East Stroudsburg University, and a Ph.D. from SUNY Binghamton.
MCIPO Managing Director Lindsay Burt, an assistant professor of political science, came to Muhlenberg in 2021. Courses she teaches include Introduction to American Government and Democratic Politics, Introduction to Comparative Politics and International Relations, and Introduction to Conflict and Peace Studies. Burt received her Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from Syracuse University. Additionally, she earned an M.A. in international development from American University and a B.A. in international relations from the University of Delaware.
The MCIPO welcomes students interested in analyzing the data it collects.
“We are always working with really interesting data sets that tell so many different stories at the same time,” says Adam Stone ’25, a history major and political science minor who worked at the MCIPO his junior and senior years. “Having the chance to look at the data and make my own inferences of what it means and all of the implications that come with that is a very exciting opportunity.”
Connect With Us
Interested in learning more? Email pollinginstitute@muhlenberg.edu.