Tamaqua Area High School students got a look into the minds of voters in Tuesday’s primary election by conducting an exit poll.

Students in Matt Stine’s AP Government class conducted the survey outside polling locations around the borough. One hundred twenty one people took the survey - which looked at voting habits and civics knowledge.

“Most who we asked said they would do it. We had a lot of respondents,” said Kash Radocha.

The survey data backed up the students’ observation that Tuesday’s midterm primary was mainly voters who participate in every election.

“In an election like this, that is not as prominent as a November election, you could tell that more people who like to vote every time are voting now,” Radocha said.

Of those surveyed, 60.5% identified themselves as politically conservative, versus just 7.6% liberal.

More than half of the respondents were over the age of 65.

The survey also asked respondents questions like whether they knew the minimum age to run for president, the number of amendments to the constitution, and Pennsylvania’s neighboring states.

The students studied different types of polls and their accuracy during the AP government course. They knew that the more voters they surveyed, the more statistically significant the results would be.

It was the first time that the AP Government students had conducted an election day survey.

Most of the students are not yet old enough to cast ballots. But some said that conducting the poll increased their excitement about participating in the voting process.

“Seeing how much people care about voting, it gives me more incentive to register to vote,” said Gianna Granick.

Low turnout

As of mid-afternoon, turnout was low at Panther Valley-area polling sites. Lansford’s three precincts ranged between 11-22% of registered voters, two Summit Hill polling places were at 17 and 19% and Coaldale borough hall was around 11%.

Danny Wynn, a judge of elections in Lansford, said that it was expected for midterm primaries.

“The only time we’ve had crowds in here was 2016 and 2020,” he said.

Serious about voting

19-year-old Bryan Smith of Summit Hill cast his ballot Tuesday.

He said that interest in the election varies among people his age, but that many of his peers are serious about voting.

“You can do something with your one vote, and that can turn into a mass, and in turn, can get what you want done,” he said.