Evening star., 1945-01-03
Constitutional Point
Seen in Gallup Quiz
Congress- Right to Probe Opinion
Questioned by Observer
By David Laurence

DD DdVf0 laurence
When the House Committee on Cam
paign Expenditures decided the other
day to take a look at public opinion
polls, many observers may have passed
it off as just another interesting adj
venture of congressional committee.
But there passed almost unnoticed the
constitutional encroachment which
such step could have meant If 1t
had not been for the willingness Of DR..
George Gallup to testify voluntarily.
For no congressional committee has
constitutional right to question the
validity or scope or nature of any ex-
pressions of opinion on current ques-
tions. There is only one element of ex-
ception. If any reading matter in any
publication is bought and paid for 1t
must, under present law, be so labeled.
In the case of the public opinion polls,
there is no such question because they
are conducted by universities or re-
search agencies which are sponsored
by independent sources.
Thus, DR.. Gallups poll is sponsored
entirely by newspapers and there is no
question about the integrity of his work.
He has research experts who happen
themselves to be of all political hues
or compilations. 1t would not be very
long before the facts of such bias would
come to light If any public opinion
organization juggled its figures to as,
sist some political party or special
interest.
Public Service.
DR.. Gallup performed a public serv-
ice by making available to a congress
sional committee all of his data from
the last campaign, and in submitting
to the" statistician of the committee
every bit of data to enable them to
study the techniques of polling.
AS matter of fact, scientific sampling
is little understood by the public. The
sampIlng method does not depend on
a numerical canvass. 1t is not how
many, but how few can give an ac-
curate cross section. Nobody has per-
fected the final technique There are
various methods being used, but prog
ress is being made toward reducing the
margin of error.
People IN government, particularly"
testlhed DR.. Gallup before the Ander-
son committee of the House, should
nave full grasp of sampling proce-
oures because in addition to providing
reliable and systematic reports on pub
lie opinion sampling methods make it
possible for administrative officers of
government to put into operation more
emclently programs affecting large
groups Of citizens. To know with ac-
curacy what sort of administrative
measures the public will accept, or
reject, and why, is frequently to save
costly mistakes. Even In fields as far
removed as public health, sampling
methods provide an instrument for
discovering what the public knows
about various diseases and what con-
troll measures it would accept. Such
information can lead to the saving of
many thousands of lives.
During the last election campaign.
the Gallup Poll, which is a fact-finding
organization supported entirely bv lead
ing newspapers of the country, tried out
two or three methods, one of which in
particular gives evidence of being ex-
tremely reliable. This method pio-
neered and developed by the United
States Bureau of Census, will probably
! be used widely, not only in public
opinion research, but in many other
flelds of research which deal with
public interests, tastes, habits, knowl-
edge and information"
Envisages Polls Future.
DR.. Gallup envisages the day when
every newspaper will conduct a poll of
its own throughout the year, using the
sampling techniques that now are being
perfected and which are, of course,
available to everybody.
Demagogues frequently misrepresent
when they claim to reflect the trend of
public opinion. Where there are means
available in a democracy, untrammeled
by governmental threat or interference,
check can readily be achieved by
sampling procedures. There are, of
course, different procedures that are
suitable for certain types of locality or
area, depending on the kind of popula-
ton, whether urban or agricultural, and
related to other factors, such as age
groups and occupations.
A modern public opinion poll does not
merely mail out ballots to a miscel-
laneous list, but it takes a sample
based on variety of factors which,
when assembled and weighed accord
ing to tested techniques, gives a quail
tative rather than quantitative re-
suit.
All the scientific sampling polls in
the last election came closer to abso-
Lutte accuracy than ever before, which
indicates that progress is being made
toward the desired goal.
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