John Lapinski AM 1994

Jack of All Trades

While most Americans tune into television news for election night results, John Lapinski, AM’94 is one of the few people working to project a winner. Lapinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, has carved out a rare career as both an academic researcher and a senior analyst in NBC News’ election unit.

“We’re making the projections for the Williamses, the Russerts, and the Browkaws,” he said. “We’re the back of the house at the restaurant.”

He is a member of a small team working the “decision desk” at NBC’s New York studios during elections—congressional, presidential primary, or presidential general—who are responsible for examining exit poll data. Lapinski’s analysis focuses on predicting a winner, but his work also involves characterizing the race—looking at demographics and determining why voters elected a certain candidate.

“I’ve done every primary this season,” said Lapinski, who started at NBC News in 2000. “It seems like I’ve spent thousands of hours watching the exit poll data.”

When not in New York, Lapinski is back in Philadelphia working on two research projects—focusing primarily on lawmaking in Congress. He has two books on lawmaking well in progress and is also teaching a class on presidential elections.

With an undergraduate degree in political science, Lapinski had contemplated pursuing a PhD, but enrolled in the Harris School to better understand the differences between policy and political science. Ultimately, he decided to pursue a PhD because of his strong interest in politics.

“I never wanted to go to DC and work for a candidate or work full time in the news industry,” explained Lapinski. “My interest in real politics could be served equally well in the more informal setting of an academic job.” He also knew that he liked to teach, and, rather than taking time out of his career to teach, he wanted it to play a larger part in his life.

“One of the things that’s sort of nice about my job is that while you can become completely involved in practical politics, you can step back and understand it better,” said Lapinski. “And that’s served me well.”

Lapinski cited a number of rewarding aspects about his career, including the ability to “get out into the real world” through his media work. But he said, “I enjoy the teaching in the sense of mentoring students. On the pure reward side, that is the highest reward.”