Assessing Public Opinion in the 1930s-1940s: Retrospective Views of Journalists

Abstract

A survey of 44 journalists whose careers spanned all or much of the 1930s and 1940s found that journalists developed a variety of innovative strategies for understanding public opinion — both systematic and unsystematic. This period was a transitional one for journalists who depended on traditional measurement techniques yet were also interested in quantifying the public sentiment.