Making it clear from the beginning of his Distinguished Lecture Series speech that he was Republican, acclaimed political pollster Frank Luntz was greeted with nothing more than a few disgruntled hisses by students at the Wisconsin Union Theater Monday night.
Fast forward to the end of the lecture, when the theater echoed with resounding applause.
'You've been nicer than I've expected,' Luntz said. 'I was afraid you were going to throw shit at me.'
Luntz, known as 'an expert on what people really think,' is considered one of the most widely recognized pollsters in the country. He has also conducted focus groups for an array of media news outlets.
To begin, Luntz refused to stand up behind the podium, instead choosing to stand among the audience and interact with them.
'I have no notes, I'm going to rip jokes and I'm going to walk out of here asking myself why I said some things,' he said. 'But you know what I'm communicating is what I believe.'
Students said they attended the lecture for a variety of reasons. First-year law student Eric Houston cited the growth of polling in marketing strategies as his reason for coming.
Houston said he wanted to 'first of all see what he does and how he does it, and then also where he sees the science going.'
Besides discussing polling strategies, Luntz emphasized the importance of language, keeping an open mind and personally connecting with people when it comes to politics.
'What we want most in this country is someone who says what they mean and means what they say,' he said.
Luntz urged everyone to talk and listen to people with different viewpoints, citing college as the only true place where one may experiment with ideas and change one's mind. By the end, more people than not said they agreed with what Luntz said, even though most still did not agree with him politically.
'I didn't know what to expect, but he was certainly the most entertaining lecturer I've ever experienced,' UW-Madison sophomore and DLS committee member David Christopher said. 'I was really surprised how people, who were obviously extremely gung-ho against him, towards the end were starting to nod their heads and agree with him.'
