Members of a fifth-grade social studies class in Davenport have become political pollsters. The students are conducting a straw poll of customers at a local restaurant, and compiling results each week. Calista Thiele says it’s exciting.Calista and the other students are comparing their poll with national surveys in the news every day. Teacher Lisa Howard says her students are learning to find the reasons behind shifts in the polls. She says it gives them a chance to examine the politics of each candidate.Terry Lunardi owns the restaurant where the poll’s being taken.Lunardi says the fifth-graders are the “decision-makers of the future” and it’s important for ’em to understand the political process. Results of the polls won’t be known until next week.
