Madonna earned a Ph.D. in political history from the University of Delaware. His teaching and writing interests focus on the American presidency, American political parties and political behavior, and voting behavior. Prior to joining the faculty of Franklin and Marshall in May 2004, he was Professor and Chair of the Government Department at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and was director of its Center for Politics and Public Affairs. His academic writings have appeared in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,The Polling Report,Presidential Studies Quarterly,Pennsylvania History,Intellect,Academe, and The Journal of Practical Politics. He has delivered several named lectures, including the Neaman Foundation Lecture in 2006 and the annual James Buchanan Foundation Lecture, "From Buchanan to Bush: Campaign Practices Then and Now," and the annual Dwight D. Eisenhower Society Lecture, "The Political Skills and Leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower" in 2007.
Polling
Madonna founded the Keystone Poll in 1992, making it the oldest exclusively Pennsylvanian poll, and renamed it the Franklin and Marshall College Poll in 2008. The poll is used by the Philadelphia Daily News, Times-Shamrock Newspapers, WGAL-TV, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, and WTAE-TV. He used to be the pollster for KYW-TV, WTXF-TV, the Comcast Network, WITF-TV, the Lancaster New Era, and the Harrisburg Patriot News. In 2008, the Franklin and Marshall partnered with Hearst-Argyle Television to conduct national polls for the company's television stations and radio stations.
Punditry
Madonna regularly appears as an analyst for WGAL-TV and as panelist on WPVI-TV's Inside Story. He frequently appears as a guest on talk radio programs across Pennsylvania. He has provided election coverage for WHYY-TV, WPVI-TV and WITF-TV. During the 1990s, he was a regular panelist on The Peoples’ Business, a public television news and commentary program. He is the current host of the weekly Pennsylvania news and commentary program, Pennsylvania Newsmakers. He has also contributed material to political web sites including MSNBC, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, and Fox News. He co-authors Politically Uncorrected a bi-weekly political commentary column that has been carried by Capitolwire and PoliticsPA. Reprints of the column occasionally appeared in other state and national news outlets, including stateline.org and RealClearPolitics. He has moderated forums and debates for gubernatorial, congressional, state legislative, and school board elections. He has provided commentary and analysis for The New York Times,The Washington Post,The Los Angeles Times,The Wall Street Journal,USA Today,Philadelphia Inquirer,Philadelphia Daily News,Pittsburgh Tribune Review,The Christian Science Monitor,National Public Radio, CNN, ABC News, and CBS News. He has appeared as a guest on CNN's Inside Politics, CBS News, ABC News, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NBC News.
