Peter J. Woolley is an American political scientist, pollster, and founding director of PublicMind—an independent public opinion research group at Fairleigh Dickinson University. His research in public opinion 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 James Edward McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 following the revelation of his extramarital affair w ...

through Governors

Richard Codey Richard James Codey (born November 27, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 53rd governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006. He has served in the New Jersey Senate since 1982 and served as the President of the Senate ...

, Jon Corzine, and Chris Christie. 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, and even on the effects on public opinion of the TV

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

'' by gossip columnist Perez Hilton.

Education and Career

Woolley was awarded the Ph.D. by the University of Pittsburgh in 1989. He studied at the Sorbonne and at the University of Bordeaux and later in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

as a member of a Fulbright/Hays Group Project: He was an Advanced Research Scholar at the

US Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associat ...

(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 and

.Parry, Wayne (July 18, 2011).
Poll: 'Jersey Shore' not hurting New Jersey image.
'' USA Today''. Associated Press. 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

* * * * {{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)