George Gallup (1901–84,) fully George Horace Gallup, was an American statistician and public opinion pollster. A pioneer of opinion research, he developed the Gallup Poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion. His work with public opinion surveys altered both political campaigns and corporate marketing.
Born in Jefferson, Iowa, he became a journalism professor at Drake University (1929–31) and Northwestern University (1931–32.) He was then director of research for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency in New York (1932–47.)
In 1935, Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion and evolved the Gallup polls for testing the state of public opinion, which made their name by accurately predicting the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Alfred M. Landon during the 1936 U.S. presidential election.
Gallup’s works are Public Opinion in a Democracy (1939) and Guide to Public Opinion Polls (1944, 1948.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by George Gallup
The common people of America display a quality of good common sense which is heartening to anyone who believes in the democratic process.
—George Gallup
Topics: Common Sense
I could prove God statistically.
—George Gallup
Topics: Statistics
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Mark Strand American Poet, Essayist
Carol Dweck American Psychologist
Henry Steele Commager American Historian
Mark Van Doren American Poet, Critic
James Harvey Robinson American Historian
Lionel Trilling American Critic
Rene Dubos French-American Microbiologist, Author
John Irving American Novelist
Rosamond Lehmann English Novelist
Barbara Cartland English Romantic Novelist