Understanding America: Elections Forecasting

Discussions on Democracy

Elections Forecasting: Presidential and Congressional Election forecasting is done by political scientists who are able to use key variables to predict the outcomes of elections with relative accuracy around Labor Day. They often are more accurate than polling data that comes out the day of the election. This lecture will also discuss polling and predicting elections.

Understanding America is a program series dedicated to educating the public and encouraging discussions on American politics and government. These programs will be on the first Sunday of every month at 2:00 p.m. at the Sharon Forks Library. Each program will consist of 45 minutes of presentation by a University of North Georgia professor following 45 minutes of a roundtable discussion on the topic of the month.

This program is intended for adults and high school students.
  

This month's topic is Elections Forecasting presented by Dr. Eric Wilk, an Assistant Professor at the University of North Georgia. He is most interested in courses on political parties, congress, campaigns and elections, voting behavior, money in politics, civil liberties, and empirical research analysis. Recently, Dr. Wilk has produced a number of peer-reviewed publications and has been featured in political science journals including Social Science Quarterly and Political Research Quarterly. Professor Wilk also has significant background in political, corporate, and educational consulting. He conducted both quantitative and qualitative research in order to help produce marketing materials for law schools. He also conducted research for corporate clients such as the Green Bay Packers and Papa John’s Pizza. Finally, Dr. Wilk also helped advise political campaigns throughout the country during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles. Dr. Wilk earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University at Buffalo, SUNY in 2010. He also earned his undergraduate degree at UB. In 2000, he earned a Master’s Degree in political management at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Upcoming Topics for Understanding America:

August 4: Partisan Media

September 1: Federalism and Its Impacts on the System

October 6: The Electoral College

November 3: Trends and Predictions Leading into Election Day

This program is in partnership with the University of North Georgia's Department of Political Science and International Affairs.

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