Why I decided to study Political Science

Just after touring the United States Capital in the spring of 2018, I sat outside thinking about all the iconic and historic figures that have walked up the steps.

Growing up I was always documenting things. 

I took pictures, I journaled, and spent probably too much time on Pinterest and Tumblr in high school. I definitely found myself always creating things. I sewed my own clothing because my family lived no where near a shopping market unless you would consider Walmart to be stylish. I liked to problem solve when I wasn’t satisfied with something.

I found creativity through my photography and writing classes but it wasn’t until I extended my journalism studies in college that I realized there was something more out there. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have a double-take moment during the presidential election night of 2016. It was confusing to me… How could Donald J. Trump win the presidency when I was told that Hillary Clinton was dominating the polls? 

These messages came from the news media, the same media I would some day be a part of. Statistician and writer Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight wrote in an article that the media has a probability problem. He compares the coverage of the 2016 election to the coverage of Hurricane Irma. You see, no one really knew where Irma was going to land. Meteorologists had an idea but the storm shifted from left to right, so much that the Associated Press had to delete a tweet because they reported one of many projections where Irma was targeted to land. Confusion was everlasting! 

So, when we look at the presidential election, yeah… Clinton was ahead in the polls, but there was still that chance and margin of error that President Trump clearly fell into and he took off running with the win.

Moral of the story, nothing in political science or social behavior is absolute. We can get pretty dang close to a prediction, but it’s extremely difficult to find a true final answer. 

So I found through political science a deeper sense of thought. That there are different ways to attack a problem and many of these problems involve numbers which are really people’s opinions. People’s opinions are typically centered from emotions and values and those are different in every person.

This helps me communicate effectively in the news. I have a better understanding that things aren’t black and white but rather a gray area. When putting together a story, knowing this makes everything difficult when dealing with framing, a deadline and having to tell a story in about two minutes. This is where those communication skills I studied came in.

This is valuable to news media and audiences to note. I am grateful for taking the chance in an area that intimidated me. It changed the way I understand politics instead of seeing it as a partisan fight but rather a fluctuation of data and the emotions behind it.