Polls and Polling
Opinion polling has a long history in American politics. On July 24, 1824, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspaper reported on a "straw" poll taken "without discrimination of parties" which indicated that Andrew Jackson was the popular choice for U.S. President over John Quincy Adams. As it turned out, Jackson did receive the most electoral votes. However, Jackson did not have at least 50 percent of the electoral votes, so the election was decided by the U.S. House of Representatives. The methods used by the Harrisburg newspaper to take the poll are not known. Modern statistical theories on opinion polling had not yet been invented.
Scientific methods for measuring public opinion had to wait for advances in the mathematical topics of probability theory and statistics, and the technique of sampling. These advances came in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Random Sampling
In 1935, George Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion to apply the latest techniques in mathematical statistics and sampling theory to take public opinion polls on various vital issues. The first major test of Gallup's scientific sampling techniques was the presidential election of 1936 between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alfred E. Landon. This election provided a great contrast between the old and new methods of opinion polling.
This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This
article contains 1,782 words (approx. 6 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Polls and Polling Access Pass.
