(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Chester County, Pa. election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester on Nov. 4, 2020. Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators have begun meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate how they will identify and fight election threats with the presidential contest just eight months away in the battleground state, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

(Reported by Mark Richardson of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) A group of University of Pennsylvania students got up close and personal with Keystone State voters recently as they studied solutions to bridging the ideological divide. Students with Penn’s Political Empathy Lab traveled across the state last summer and talked with people at parks, libraries and county fairs. The goal was to listen to Pennsylvanians as they discussed the issues in the 2024 campaign. Lab director Lia Howard says the students emphasized using critical listening skills to understand the voters better. Howard says the students recorded 45 hours of audio during their sessions, producing a podcast series and presenting what they learned on and off campus. Another statewide tour is scheduled for this spring, and Howard says she will eventually publish the students’ findings.