Political Science 318 (POL S 318) – Campaigns and Elections, is an Iowa State course which focuses on the methods and strategies of political campaigns in American elections. The course also emphasizes the history of the electoral process and the transformation of American campaigns.
Students of the class were assigned a final project in which they were asked to cover the GOP Caucus.
“Look at candidates each week, starting off with the ones that won’t make it very far,” Nicholas Harmon, a sophomore in journalism and mass communications, said.
The name of the project, began by students, is Predict Iowa.
The mission statement on Predict Iowa’s website states:
“We are a class of political science students from Iowa State University. Our class specializes in studying campaigns and elections, hence why this project came to exist. Within our class, many people have different kinds of knowledge and experience when looking at campaigns and elections, which has been valuable when carrying out this project. The project focuses specifically on Iowa, an inevitable fit as this caucus impacts us locally.”
“[Predict Iowa is] trying to predict who is going to win the Iowa Caucus,” Braden Fels, a sophomore studying history, said.
Predict Iowa seeks to educate the public on the current presidential candidates and how to caucus.
“The class was divided into two groups, the analysis group and the presentation group. The analysis group picked the candidates out and made opinion papers and hard analysis papers about each person,” Harmon said. “The second group is the presentation group. In the beginning we talked about making a website, and we worked on that website.”
Along with a website, the class also has a podcast, which is available on YouTube, a Facebook page, an Instagram page, an X, formerly known as Twitter, account, a TikTok page and a Spotify account for the podcast.
“We’re trying to make it as accessible as we can by pushing it out to as many different platforms,” Claudia Murphy, a junior in political science, said.
The website contains information on past caucuses as well as current candidates and their history. There are opinion posts about each candidate along with an in-depth analysis of them, including their careers, roles and political stances. The website has significant content on the Iowa Caucus.
“The analysis team has a 60-page motherdoc that is available on the website,” Fels said.
The website also contains a separate page dedicated to teaching people how to caucus.
“…a lot of people don’t know that it’s not as simple as going to a general election,” Murphy said.
“[The goal is] impacting students in a way that it’s easy to digest, on an easy-to-use platform, where they can find all the information on candidates,” Fels said.
The Predict Iowa podcast discusses different candidates and how they are playing out in the elections, while also talking to guest speakers from within the class to gather their input and look at this in the least biased way possible.
“The most interesting part of our podcast is the variety of guests we’re able to have on here. We had an exchange student from the UK and a 56-year-old guy named Silas,” Fels said.
The project transcends beyond political fanatics, it serves as an introduction to the caucuses, too.
“This project provides a good place for students that maybe haven’t been paying as close attention to politics, to kind of get a snapshot of the candidates and their policies. It’s easier and less intimidating,” Murphy said.
