GALLUP POLL
SIR,--Mrs. Prosser says some nice things about the Gallup Poll, for which we thank her.
We maintain that polls can, and should, test out the public's attitude towards ideas and policies in a realistic context. That is to say, if an idea or policy is being widely discussed as one which might be adopted we should frame our question to take ac- count of this fact.
If the suggestion of East-West summit talks as a possible outcome of the NATO Conference had been our own invention, you could rightly have complained that it was 'angled.' But the proposition we were testing had been widely discussed, both on the air and in the press.
The question was reported in full and the inter- pretation of the result was fair—namely, that if the NATO leaders had, in their wisdom, decided to take up Russian suggestions for top-level meetings the decision would have been accepted in this country.
Since the discussion started in your columns, the Bulganin letters have given us the opportunity of testing out public 'reaction to high-level talks in an unfavourable context—as a Russian suggestion. The results were, as you know, still very favourable to the idea.
All the comments from the Editor and Mrs. Prosser have overlooked the fact that the function of the polls is to report reactions to current situations. How do ' you do this if the current situations are not referred to?—Yours faithfully,
HENRY DURANT
Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Limited, 59 Brook Street, Mayfair, W1
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