Peter J. Woolley is an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, pollster, and founding director of PublicMind—an independent public opinion research group at Fairleigh Dickinson University. His research in

public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

and his commentary have been cited on a range of public issues including the effect of cable news on voter information, the constitutionality of public prayer, traffic safety, drone warfare, measuring support for independent candidates, and televising the US Supreme Court, He is also cited on New Jersey's gubernatorial politics since Governor James McGreevey through Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, Chris Christie, and Phil Murphy, as well as on US Senate elections, presidential politics, congressional races, and other New Jersey policy debates such as affordable housing, Atlantic City and the gambling industry, residential segregation, and even on the effects on public opinion of the TV reality show '' Jersey Shore'' by gossip columnist Perez Hilton.

Education and career

Woolley was awarded the Ph.D. by the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1989. He studied at the Sorbonne and at the University of Bordeaux and later in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as a member of a Fulbright/Hays Group Project: He was an Advanced Research Scholar at the US Naval War College (1994–95) and won the Miller History Prize from the US Naval War College in 1997 for his contribution "The Role of Strategy in Great Power Decline." He also authored two books on U.S.-Japan defense relations, ''Japan's Navy: Politics and Paradox'' (Lynne-Reinner, 2000) and ''Geography and Japan's Strategic Choices'' (Potomac, 2005). Woolley took over the direction of PublicMind in 2002 and nurtured it from an obscure upstart in polling to a nationally cited source of public opinion on campaigns and elections as well as a variety of national issues such as automobile safety, eminent domain, gambling, the impact of candidates' gender on voters, and even the impact on New Jersey of the TV shows,

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

and Jersey Shore.Parry, Wayne (July 18, 2011).
Poll: 'Jersey Shore' not hurting New Jersey image.
''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. Retrieved Jan. 4, 2015.

Selected bibliography

* ''Geography and Japan's Strategic Choices: From Seclusion to Internationalization'' (Alexandria, Va.: Potomac Books, 2005). * ''Japan's Navy: Politics and Paradox, 1971-2001,'' Foreword by James E. Auer. (Boulder, Col.: Lynne-Rienner Publishers, 2000). * ''American Politics: Core Argument and Current Controversy'', Woolley, Peter J. and Albert Papa, eds. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Publishers, 2002).

References

External links

Peter J. Woolley
publications indexed by

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolley, Peter J. Living people American political scientists Saint Joseph's University alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni Fairleigh Dickinson University faculty American Episcopalians Year of birth missing (living people)