George H. Gallup

To many people, the name Gallup is synonymous with opinion polls. George Horace Gallup, the founder of the American Institute of Public Opinion, began his news career while attending the University of Iowa. During his junior year as a student of journalism, Gallup became the editor of his College newspaper, the Daily Iowan. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1923, Gallup remained at the University nine years as an instructor of journalism.

In addition to teaching, Gallup continued his own studies of human nature and public opinion. Interest in how the public reacts to advertisements and perceives various issues of the day led Gallup to combine his study of psychology. In 1925, he received his master's degree in psychology. Gallup's studies culminated in 1928 with his doctoral thesis, A new technique for Objective Method for Measuring Reader Interest in Newspaper. Gallup's new technique of polling the public was to utilize a stratified sample, that is, a sample that closely mirrors the composition of the entire population. Gallup contended that a stratified sample of 1,500 people was sufficient to obtain reliable estimates. For his pioneering work in this new field, Gallup was awarded his Ph. D. in journalism in 1928.



Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion in 1935 with the stated purpose 'to impartially measure and report public opinion on political and social issues of the day without regard to the rightness or wisdom of the views expressed." His first triumph was his prediction of the winner of the 1936 presidential election between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alfred Landon. While many, including the prestigious Literary Digest, predicted Landon to win, Gallup correctly predicted Roosevelt as the winner.

Gallup polls have correctly predicted all presidential elections since, with the exception of the 1948 race between Thomas Dewey and Harry S. Truman. Much to his embarrasement, Gallup predicted Dewey as the Winner. Fact, Truman win with 49,4%. Gallup explain that he had ended his poll too far in advance of election day and had disregarded the votes of those who were undecided. Of his error, Gallup said, "We are continually experimenting and continually learning."

Although some people criticize use of polls, citing their potential influence and missue, Gallup considered the public opinion poll to be "one of the most useful instruments of democracy ever devised." Answering the charge that he and his polls influence election, Gallup retorted, "One might as well insist that a thermometer makes the weather!" In addition, Gallup confessed that he had not voted in a presidential election since 1928. Above all, Gallup wanted to ensure the impartiality of his polls.

Besides polling people regarding their choices in presidential campaigns, Gallup was the first pollster to ask the public to rate a president's performance and popularity. Today, these "presidential report card" are so common we may take them for granted. In addition to presidential politics, Gallup also dealt with sociological issues, asking questions such as "What's the important problem facing the country?"

Polling has become a multimilion-dollar business. In 1983, the Gallup  Organization had revenues totaling $6.7 milion. Today, Gallup polls are syndicated in newspaper across the country and around the world.

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wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gallup