Election Polling Trends,1960

Abstract

We recently conducted a "poll of the pollsters," asking several of the major Amer ican public opinion polling organizations what contributions or innovations they were making to improve election studies and forecasting. Elmo Roper and Associates, the American Institute of Public Opinion, and the Field Research Company (which con ducts the California Poll) each summarized the directions their efforts are taking. As Elmo Roper points out, there has been much talk of improving the art, but in an election year, at least, the pollsters are not concerned so much with "new directions" as they are with increasing the sophistication of tried-and-true methods. We hope to print other comment following the November election.