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George H. GallupAuthor(s): James Playsted WoodSource:
The Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 26, No. 4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 78-80Published by: American Marketing AssociationStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1248346
Accessed: 02/02/2009 13:18
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,AEADEIRSINMARKETING
George
H.
Gallup
Betweenhisjuniorand senioryearsaUniver-sityof Iowaundergraduatespentthesummer asaninterviewer for theD'Arcy advertising agencyinSt.Louis. Editoroftheuniversity's Dailylowan,GeorgeHoraceGalluphadlooked forwardto acareerinjournalism.This summerasaninter-viewerchangedhisplans.Hethoughtthe readerresearchmethods he foundin use couldbeimproved,and so heresolvedtoremainat theuniversitytosearch outmethodswhichmightproducemoreaccurate research find-ings.GeorgeGalluptookhisB.A.at theUniversityof Iowain1923,his M.A. in1925,andhisPh.D.inpsychologyin1928.Thetitle of his doctoraldissertationwasANEWTECH-
NIQUEFORMEASURINGREADERINTERESTINNEWSPAPERS.
Thisdissertation containedtheelementsofthenewkindofreaderresearchwhich.GeorgeGallup originatedandthebasictechniqueofthe nowworld-famousGallupPoll.Gallup'sworkcametotheattention ofJohn andGardnerCowles, Jr.,oftheDes Moines-lRegisterandTribune.TheypersuadedGallup,who hadbeenteachingat Iowa whiledoinghisgraduatework,tojointhefacultyof DrakeUni-versityinDes Moinesas aGEORGEteacherofjournalismandtodoastudyof theRegisterforthem.Gallup'sreader-ship studyoftheRegisterin 1928 wasthe firstsuchstudyevermade.Galluptookreadersthroughthepagesofthemostrecent issue of thenewspaper,findingout howmuch orhow littletheyhad read ofeachitem,andthenbreakingdownthe itemsbycategoryso thatthepublishercouldseewhat storiesand what kindsoffeatureswerewell readandwhich failedto drawsignificant readership.Soonthereafter,GeorgeGallupmadecomparableByJAMES PLAYSTEDWOOD
TheCurtisPublishing Company
IH.studies oftheChicago DailyNews,ClevelandPlainDealer,BuffaloEveningNews,andmanyothernewspapers.Inthe courseofmakingthese studiesofdailyandSundaynewspapers,Gallupdiscoveredthegreatinterest inpicturesand in comicstrips.Advertisers,andparticularly RalphStarr Butlerof GeneralFoods,seized on thesefindings,andthefirstcomic-stripadvertisingresulted. Thegreatinterestshowninpicturesand inpicture journalismstimulatedGardnerCowles,Jr.,to considerthepos-sibilities in thisfield,and laterled him toestablishLookmagazine.': j~~.:~,Gallup appliedhis readerresearchmethodstomaga-zinesfor the first time whenin1931 hemadecomparativereadershipstudies of the edi-torial andadvertisingcontentof TheSaturdayEveningPost,theLiteraryDigest,Collier's,andLiberty.Inactualitythesereader-shipstudiesconstitutedmar-ketingresearchdirectedto-wardtheimprovementof
ofU
icttanewspaperandmagazineprod-ucts,afactwhichadvertiserswerequicktorecognize. Bythis timealsoGalluphadbegunto do research onprod-uctadvertising.He hadmadea numberof studies for LeverBrothers when he wenttoGALLUPNorthwesternUniversityin1931asaProfessorof Jour-nalism andAdvertising.HespentonlyoneyearatNorthwestern,forRaymondRubicamwent toChicagoin1932andurgedGalluptojoinYoung&RubicamasDirector ofResearch.ForY&R,whereheremained for 15years, Gallupconductednumerousreadershipstudiesof thevarious mediaandcomparablestudiesinadvertisingresearch.AsAudienceResearch,Inc.,hepretestedthepopularityofmovie-script titlesandstars astothemosteffec-tivemethods ofmairketingspecificfilms.78
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LeadersinMarketing
79TheGallupPollItwasalmostaccident,certainlyitwasfamilyincident,thatledtoGeorgeGallup's applyingthetechniqueshehaddevisedforreadershipandmar-ketingsurveystothepracticalusesofpolitics.In1932 hismother-in-law,OlaBabcockMiller,wasplacedontheDemocratic ticketascandidateforSecretaryoftheStateof Iowa.Thegesturewasintendedas littlemorethanaperfunctoryhonorto thewidowof60 whosehusband had editedtheonly importantDemocraticnewspaperinanormallyRepublicanstate. As theonlymalemem-berof thefamily,GeorgeGallup became,perforce,Mrs.Miller'spoliticaladviser. Hebeganto delveintopoliticalquestions.Mrs.Miller"squeakedintooffice"byavotesoclosethather electionwas almostcontested.Gallupcontinuedhisinvestigationsinto herconstituents'opinionsandattitudesonthepoliticalissueswithwhich shewasconfronted. He foundsomeof theanswers. In1934,Mrs. Millerwas re-electedbyalandslide, leadingthestateticket.In1936,whenshewasreelected fora thirdterm,Mrs. Millerraneven aheadofFranklinD.Rooseveltin halfthecountiesofIowa.Bythistime,GeorgeGalluphadalreadyfoundedhisAmericanInstituteof PublicOpinioninPrince-ton,NewJersey.Heissuedhisfirstpressreleasein1935.Inasense,hemovedfromhistory,as arecord ofwhatpeoplehadread,bought,orpre-ferred,intoprophecy-theforecastingof howpeo-plemightactasaresultoftheir recordedopinions.Inhisownwords,Gallupdiscoverd that thesamplingandquestionnairemethodswhich hadworkedfortoothpasteworkedforpoliticsaswell.ThefirstGalluppollswere viewedwithsuspicion.Hisforecastswere attackedby politicians.Theywereridiculedbycolumnists. Hedrew favorableattention whenhispredicitionprovedtrue,thattheLiterary Digestpollof 1936 would beincorrectbecause oferroneoussampling.Hedrew consider-ablymoreattention and asufficiencyof less favor-ableattentionwhen, alongwithall theotherpollsthatwereinoperationbythistime,heforecastvictoryforThomasE.Deweyinthepresidentialelectionof1948.Thismisadventure,Galluphas sincesaid,provedablessingindisguise.Itshowedthatpoliticalsenti-ment couldshiftstronglyinthe lastfewdaysofacampaign,andindicatedthatpollingmethodswouldhavetobedevisedwhichwouldenable fore-casters tomeasuretrends totheveryendof acampaign.TheAmericanInstituteofPublicOpin-ionhas sinceforecast theoutcomeofnational elec-tionstowithin anaverageof1.7percent oftheiractualoutcome.For28yearsnow,theGallupPoll hasserviced100newspapersonayear-in,year-outbasis withthreereportsaweekcovering public opiniononevery importantpolitical,economic,andsocialissue.Undervariousnames,Gallupnowconductsthreedifferentresearchenterprises,allinPrinceton,al-most withinthemorningshadowofNassauHall.The AmericanInstitute ofPublicOpinionconductstheGallupPollfornewspapersyndication.GallupandRobinson, Inc.,doesmarketingandadver-tisingresearchforclientsoncontract, providingacontinuingservicein theevaluation ofmagazine,newspaper,andtelevisionadvertising.TheGallupOrganization,Inc.,does adhocresearch,undertak-ingsurveysandstudiesonassignment.ActivationResearchForGallupandRobinson,GeorgeGallupdevisedthetheoryandtechniqueof"Impact"asaresearchmethod.Togetherhe andthe lateClaudeRobinsonestablished aresearchcenter in aconvertedmoviehouse inHopewell,NewJersey,whereconsumersareinterviewedasto theirresponsestoadvertising.Previousresearchintoimpacthadrequiredre-spondentstoplayback salesmessagesas ameasureofhowwell theadvertisinghadbeenreceivedanddigested.Yetadvertisingmessagescouldregisterandstill failtomovegoods.Activation,anewresearchconcept, beginsandendswith thesale.Respondentsinthisinstancearerequiredtopro-duceitemsbought,thenrequiredtoprove throughansweringspecificquestionswherethey gottheirideasformakingthepurchases.Activationthusprovidesacheckontheeffectiveness of anadver-tisingcampaigntocreatenewcustomers.Gallupbelievesthat themajoradvance inre-searchsince theadoptionofareasamplinghasbeeninquestionnairedesignandimprovedinter-viewingskills.Therealdevelopmentinthere-searchbusiness,hefeels,is inmakingsurerespond-ents knowwhatyouaretryingto findout,sothatthemindoftherespondentisproperlyfocusedtoprovideaccurateandtruthfulanswers.It isGallup'sconvictionthatthecommon manand thecommonwomanareintelligentand,whenguidedthroughskilledquestioning,canbeled toreportaccuratelyontheirpurchasesandontheiropinions.Hebelievesthat"peoplearemuchma-ligned-nothalfasemotionalandirrational astheyareheldtobe.Theyarriveattheirprefer-encesandopinionsinanorderlyway."Admittedly,hemightnothavefeltthisas agraduatestudentofpsychology.This,heconcedes,isknowledgecomeoflongexperienceinaskingquestionsandgettinganswers.TheManGallupstillspendsmuchofhis timetalkingwithrespondentsattheHopewellinterviewingcen-ter.Hebelievesthatthe"doctormust walkthewards."HehasbeenpollingtheAmericanpublicLeadersinMarketing79
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