My Experience on the NBC Decision Desk

I can honestly say that I’ve had an experience as a Penn student that I couldn’t have had at any other university.

Each year, the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) hires student research fellows to conduct data-based research in political science and related fields with staff and faculty mentors, but also to participate in the program’s partnership with the NBC Decision Desk, the team that calls races for the network on election night. I started working as a PORES fellow in my sophomore year and have had the opportunity to work as part of the Decision Desk team twice now in addition to my other research. When I found out that this opportunity existed at Penn because many of the analysts on the Decision Desk team are Political Science professors here, I was immediately excited to be involved. Political Science is a broad field, but I have always had a particular interest in elections.

On election night during the 2022 midterms, I worked with a small group of other student fellows to enter up to date county-level data into spreadsheets for use by the senior analysts (including current and former professors of mine). In the days leading up to the election, we rehearsed our roles, given the importance of both speed and accuracy on the night itself.

The most rewarding and thrilling part of the experience was feeling that I had made a real and valuable contribution to such important work, and particularly to coverage that I would have been watching and tracking at home had I not been working. The experience was made even more memorable because I was able to share in the excitement of the night with a group of other fellows who I had become close with over the months that we participated in the program together. PORES provides incredible opportunities outside the classroom for students like me who are interested in survey research and elections, and the quantitative side of political science more generally. It exemplifies the types of experiences available to students here at Penn that help foster niche or specific interests – I’m so grateful to have found PORES and to have been able to engage with the program’s offering during my time here.

- Lucy K.