GALLUP POLL
SIR,-1 make no claim to being an expert on public opinion polls but I have done enough work in this field to have some insight into its intricacies; enough also to enable me to appreciate the high standards which place the Gallup Poll almost in a class of its own.
The fact remains that my spontaneous reaction on reading the question of which I later saw you com- plained was one of considerable surprise. I have since stared this question out of countenance in an effort to test my own initial reaction; it remains unshaken: the question could not but have given a lead to the person interviewed. I cannot believe that Mr. Durant would maintain that it could not be improved upon.
Nor do I think be would deny that the difficulties facing any poll on a subject of acute political con- troversy are almost insurmountable. Polls inevitably tend to shape opinion as well as assess it; at a time when we see impartiality and objectivity melting on all sides around us, can we suppose pollsters exempt? —Yours faithfully,
Previous page
