I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone—the chances that all the functions of an individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity.
Polling is merely an instrument for gauging public opinion. When a president or any other leader pays attention to poll results, he is, in effect, paying attention to the views of the people. Any other interpretation is nonsense.
George Horace Gallup was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful
statistical methodStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
of
survey samplingIn statistics, survey sampling describes the process of selecting a sample of elements from a target population in order to conduct a survey.A survey may refer to many different types or techniques of observation, but in the context of survey sampling it most often involves a questionnaire used to...
for measuring public opinion.
Biography
Gallup was born in
Jefferson, IowaJefferson is a city in Greene County, Iowa, United States, along the North Raccoon River. The population was 4,626 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Greene County. It is the home of the Mahanay Memorial Bell Tower, tall, located on the town square, and visible for miles. The tower is...
. He was a graduate of The Lawrenceville School and the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, where he was a football player, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and editor of
The Daily IowanThe Daily Iowan is an independent, 19,500-circulation daily student newspaper serving Iowa City and the University of Iowa community. It has consistently won a number of collegiate journalism awards, including multiple National Pacemaker Awards, and is generally regarded as one of the finest...
, an independent newspaper which serves the university campus. He earned his B.A. in 1923, his M.A. in 1925 and his Ph.D. in 1928.
In 1936, his new organization achieved national recognition by correctly predicting, from the replies of only 5,000 respondents, that Franklin Roosevelt would defeat
Alf LandonAlfred Mossman "Alf" Landon was an American Republican politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Kansas from 1933–1937. He was best known for being the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, defeated in a landslide by Franklin D...
in the U.S. Presidential election. This was in direct contradiction to the widely respected
Literary DigestThe Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
magazine whose poll based on over two million returned questionnaires predicted that Landon would be the winner. Not only did Gallup get the election right, he correctly predicted the results of the
Literary Digest poll as well using a random sample smaller than theirs but chosen to match it.
Twelve years later, his organization had its moment of greatest ignominy, when it predicted that
Thomas DeweyThomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
would defeat
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in the 1948 election, by five to 15 percentage points. Gallup believed the error was mostly due to ending his polling three weeks before Election Day.
In 1947, he launched the
Gallup International AssociationGallup International Association is an association of polling organizations registered in Zurich, Switzerland. Gallup International was founded in May 1947. Dr. George H. Gallup served as its first President, until his death in 1984.Gallup Inc...
, an international association of polling organizations.
In 1948, with
Claude E. RobinsonClaude E. Robinson was an American pioneer in advertising research and opinion survey research techniques. Along with George Gallup, he was instrumental in developing many scientific sampling techniques that were later used in Gallup polls and other public opinion research surveys.- Life :Claude...
, he founded Gallup and Robinson, Inc., an
advertising researchAdvertising research is a specialized form of marketing research conducted to improve the efficiency of advertising. According to MarketConscious.com, “It may focus on a specific ad or campaign, or may be directed at a more general understanding of how advertising works or how consumers use the...
company.
In 1958, Gallup grouped all of his polling operations under what became
The Gallup OrganizationThe Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
.
Gallup died of a
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his summer home in
TschingelThe Tschingel is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland.-External links:*...
, a village in the
Bernese OberlandThe Bernese Oberland is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the southern end of the canton: The area around Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of the Bernese Alps .The flag of the Bernese Oberland consists of a black eagle in a gold field The Bernese Oberland (Bernese...
of
SwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. He was buried in
Princeton CemeteryPrinceton Cemetery is located in Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. It is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church. John F. Hageman in his 1878 history of Princeton, New Jersey refers to the cemetery as: "The Westminster Abbey of the United States."...
. His son, writer and pollster
George Gallup, Jr.George Horace Gallup III was an American pollster, writer and executive at the The Gallup Organization, which had been founded by his father, George Gallup...
, died in 2011.
See also
- Approval rating
In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were introduced by George Gallup in the late 1930s to gauge public support for the President of the United States during his term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by a polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an...
- The Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
- Gallup & Robinson
Gallup & Robinson is an independent marketing research firm specializing in advertising research. Founded in 1948, in Princeton, New Jersey by Dr. George Gallup and Dr...
- George H. Gallup House
The George H. Gallup House built in 1901 is an historic octagonal house located at 703 South Chestnut Street in Jefferson, Iowa. It was the birthplace and boyhood home of Dr. George Horace Gallup, the pioneer of public opinion polling....
- Gallup International Association
Gallup International Association is an association of polling organizations registered in Zurich, Switzerland. Gallup International was founded in May 1947. Dr. George H. Gallup served as its first President, until his death in 1984.Gallup Inc...
External links