2008 Woodie Awards
MIPO chief balances polling with student needs
James Marconi
Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: News
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For some, lunch hour is a time to recharge, relax, and distance themselves from the stresses of the day. For MIPO Director Dr. Lee Miringoff, it's an opportunity to get polling operations settled. Though they ate, joked, and laughed like others in the workplace, Miringoff and his colleagues also prepared for the intense few weeks preceding the congressional midterm election.
Coming after a day already peppered with interviews, phone calls, and the occasional student advisee (what Miringoff called a 'slow day') the informal lunch conference was business as usual.
His position is prominent: MIPO, the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, is used nationwide by the media, politicians, and the public at large. Often, Miringoff said, he finds himself traveling to New York City to work with anchors from Channel 4, either for a short sound bite or an interview regarding the latest polling data.
For such trips, there is still a need to be in frequent contact with his colleagues to get a steady stream of information from work, which cell phones make far easier than pit stops along the road. Miringoff joked, though, that shifting reception makes even cell phones problematic, at times.
"I know every spot on the Taconic when I have to talk fast," said Miringoff. "In the bad zones you drive really fast, in the goods zones you drive really slowly." The average speed, he said, just about matches the speed limit.
Despite frequent visits to the city, Miringoff said that his role as a teacher is of the utmost importance. When he talks about his students and the work they do in class and in MIPO a kind of warmth creeps into his voice, and his eyes seem to brighten. He is very quick to say that MIPO was, at its humble beginnings in 1978, a student generated idea.
"It was a course in voting behavior, and a student suggested that we do a poll," Miringoff said. The class aimed to do exit polls of Duchess County voters after a local election. "One hundred students that day fanned all over the county, and we did a hand analysis of the results." Due to the large number of participants interviewed, Miringoff noted that his students' results were particularly accurate.
Coming after a day already peppered with interviews, phone calls, and the occasional student advisee (what Miringoff called a 'slow day') the informal lunch conference was business as usual.
His position is prominent: MIPO, the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, is used nationwide by the media, politicians, and the public at large. Often, Miringoff said, he finds himself traveling to New York City to work with anchors from Channel 4, either for a short sound bite or an interview regarding the latest polling data.
For such trips, there is still a need to be in frequent contact with his colleagues to get a steady stream of information from work, which cell phones make far easier than pit stops along the road. Miringoff joked, though, that shifting reception makes even cell phones problematic, at times.
"I know every spot on the Taconic when I have to talk fast," said Miringoff. "In the bad zones you drive really fast, in the goods zones you drive really slowly." The average speed, he said, just about matches the speed limit.
Despite frequent visits to the city, Miringoff said that his role as a teacher is of the utmost importance. When he talks about his students and the work they do in class and in MIPO a kind of warmth creeps into his voice, and his eyes seem to brighten. He is very quick to say that MIPO was, at its humble beginnings in 1978, a student generated idea.
"It was a course in voting behavior, and a student suggested that we do a poll," Miringoff said. The class aimed to do exit polls of Duchess County voters after a local election. "One hundred students that day fanned all over the county, and we did a hand analysis of the results." Due to the large number of participants interviewed, Miringoff noted that his students' results were particularly accurate.
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