Professional Documents
Culture Documents
American Association for Public Opinion Research and Oxford University Press are collaborating with JSTOR
to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Public Opinion Quarterly.
http://www.jstor.org
TESTING
PUBLIC
OPINION
The American
Institute
GEORGEGALLUP,Director,
ofPublicOpinion
thenational
Lord Bryce'sanalysisof the role "devisemeanswhereby
of public opinionin a democracy will shouldbe quicklyknown."So
did he regardthisprobHe important
was particularlynoteworthy.
knew thatin no countryis public lem thathe said the nextand final
as in theUnited stagein ourAmericanformof govopinionso powerful
States,and he saw clearlywherein ernmentwould be reached"if the
of citizenswere
ruleby publicopinionfallsshortin willof themajority
at all times,
weakness to becomeascertainable
The greatest
thiscountry.
by public opinion, withoutthe need of its passing
of government
of ascer- througha bodyof representativesBrycesaid,is thedifficulty
possiblywithouttheneedof voting
tainingit.
at all."
Brycesaw clearlyhow inadequate machinery
A whileago PresidentRoosevelt
are the meansof knowingthe will
of thepeoplein this said thatthemajority
of Americans
of themajority
Such is the din of voices are in favorof his Courtproposal.
couintry.
here,Brycewrotein his book The Was he rightor was he wrong?
thatit is
AmericanCommonwealth,
How shallwe interpret
the great
in the I936 election
hard to say which cry prevails- voteregistered
of the for Mr. Roosevelt?Was it a manwhichcomesfromthethroats
ofthe date to liberalizethe Court? Was
many,whichfromthethroats
few. "The organsof opinion,"he it a mandateto continuethe prosaid, "seemalmostas numerousas gramof spending?Was it a manand theyare date to revivethe NRA? To disthepeoplethemselves,
their tributewealth?Or was it merelya
all engaged in representing
own viewas thatof the'people.'" tributeto a greatpersonality?
out,
pointed
Bryce
Evenan election,
Was the greatmajorityreceived
couldat bestdo no morethantest by Hoover in I928 a mandateto
thedivisionof opinionbetweentwo retainProhibition?
Was ita mandate
or threegreat parties,leavingun- to continuethe policiesof the ecoansweredthe will of the peoplein nomicroyalists
of thatgoldeneraof
to theissues.And iftheelec- Republicanism?
respect
Or was it merelya
tionhappenedto dependon theper- voteto keepoutoftheWhiteHouse
then a man whose religionand whose
sonalmeritsof thecandidates,
was even morediffi-backgroundwere not approvedby
interpretation
cult.
manyvoters?
Brycebelievedit to be one of the
A placardwhichappearedin one
chiefproblems
of all freenationsto of thescenesof Of Thee I Singcar-
IO
II
l2
is revealedone of
he has intimated
thathe willrenew Here certainly
his fightto enlargethe Court.Do the greatestweaknessesof our deofthebasic
Here isevidence
thevotersof the country
wanthim mocracy.
that
to renewthisfight?The Institute
.s truthof Lord Bryce'sassertion
of
presentlyengaged in polling the thenextstatein thedevelopment
countryon thisquestion.The first the Americanformof government
returns
look as if the country
by a wouldbe reachedif thewill of the
is readyto "call peoplewereto becomeascertainable
thumping
majority
the wholethingoff."The Institute at all times.
of publicopinan interesting
The measurement
has discovered
factin
the course of its SupremeCourt ion need not be confinedto quespolls; it has discovered
thatovera tionsof government
and politics.It
thirdof the peoplewho votedfor is equallyusefulin the fieldof solastfallare againsthis cial problems.I believethatwhen
thePresident
which
plan. And yetvirtually
all of these fulluse is madeofprocedures
for have beendevelopedit will be possamepersonsareenthusiastically
Roosevelttoday.
sibleto speedup thewholeprogram
Standardpoliticalprocedure
calls of social welfare.Let me cite one
formakingtheSupremeCourtone example.
oftheissuesin theforthcoming
ConFor manyyearsthe word"syphgressional
campaign.In fact,former ilis" was bannedfrommanypubliPresident
Hooverhas madethissug- cations,becausetheeditorsthought
gestion,and the Presidenthimself, thatdecentpeopledid notwantto
judgingfromhis last talk,appears talkaboutit.Monthsago we learned,
readyto carrytheissueintothecam- in thecourseof takingpollson this
paign.
issue,thatthe publicnot onlywas
What will happen?If President readyto discussfreelythe problem
Rooseveltretainshis presentgreat ofvenerealdiseasesbutthatthepubpopularity,the Democrats will lic in its thinkinghad traveledfar
emergeagainfromtheelections
with beyondlegislators
in the matterof
a substantial
majority,
if somewhat publiccontrolof thesediseases.
smallerthan 1936.
Let me cite anotherexamplein
If the Court proposalhas been a different
field.We knowthatcermadean issuein thecampaign,the tain prejudicesexistamongProtesDemocrats,
and in factmostpeople, tantsand Catholicsand Jews.How
willregarditas a mandatetoenlarge can we deal effectively
with these
theCourt,despitethefactthatpeo- prejudicesunlesswe know a great
ple mayholdthesameviewsat that deal more about them? Why do
timeas theydo today.The President theyexist? Where do theyexist?
will surelyregardit as a mandate What is the trend-are relations
to enlargethe Court.
among thesegroupsimprovingor
13
14