CLEARFIELD – It’s a beautiful day to vote. Bright, sunny, and projected to be warm. With that in mind, GantDaily contacted Dr. G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster to ask him what his thoughts were on how weather affects voter turnout.
GantDaily spoke with Madonna over the phone on Tuesday over a couple of issues that involving voting in general and Act 1 of 2006, possibly the only hot-button issue on the primary election ballot in Clearfield County.
Madonna said that in his 30 years of experience, he has seen no academic study to show that weather not in the extremes affects voter turnout. He said that he never bought into the idea of weather affecting voter turnout, a myth he said was started by a journalist who wrote a book on a past election.
He went on to say that people for a variety of reasons, and broke them down into four categories.
The first category was the person who is strongly allied with a political party.
“They always vote,” said Madonna. “Come hell or high water.”
The next group were active political workers, folks who may be working in a particular person’s campaign. The third group consisted of people who have strong habitual tendencies to vote, such as people who have feel voting is civic duty. The fourth group contained people who vote on hot button issues.
Madonna explained that searing heat or monsoon rains might affect voter turnout, but not a nice warm day.
On the issue of Act 1 of 2006, Madonna said it is a complex issue. Act 1 of 2006 required school boards to place a question on ballots regarding property tax relief. Each district had to form a tax study commission to review which direction they felt the board should go in regard to making up the money that would be lost through the property tax relief.
Madonna said that people have to understand the referendum they are voting on. A lot of it is dependent on school districts and news coverage of the particulars of the referendum. Then it comes down to who the referendum will affect. For on older person who owns property, they will probably vote for it. A person who rents will probably vote against it.
“More of them will be defeated than passed,” said Madonna of the referendum. “Historically it’s tough to get referenda to pass in this state.”
At Franklin and Marshall College, Madonna is Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs, Professor of Public Affairs, and Director of the Franklin and Marshall Keystone Poll. He joined F&M in May, 2004.
Madonna founded the Keystone Poll in 1992, the oldest survey produced exclusively in Pennsylvania. In this capacity, he is the pollster for The Philadelphia Daily News, The Harrisburg Patriot News, WGAL-TV (Lancaster), The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, and WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh)–media clients for the Keystone Poll. He has also polled for KYW-TV (Philadelphia), Fox 29-TV (Philadelphia), CN8, The Comcast Network, WITF-TV, public television, (Harrisburg), and The Lancaster New Era.
A frequent political analyst and public affair’s commentator, Madonna has also provided analysis to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S.A. Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, CNN, ABC News and CBS News, to name a few. Madonna has appeared on CNN’s Inside Politics, CBS News, ABC News, C-Span, and NBC News. He has also contributed to political web sites for MSNBC, the Hill Newspaper, Realclearpolitics, and Fox News.
