George Gallup: Inventor of the Gallup Poll

Everyone has heard of the Gallup poll, but how much do you know about the man who invented it? George Gallup is the father of the modern method of polling people to get a consensus opinion. In his day, he was well-known enough to be called "the Babe Ruth of the polling profession" by Time Magazine in 1948. His interest in public opinion started when Gallup worked on his college newspaper and wondered why certain feature articles were more popular than others. Today, the Gallup polling system is used by political candidates, media outlets, and advertising agencies around the world.

George Gallup: Starting off in Iowa

Every four years, the Iowa caucus starts off the presidential campaign. Iowa is also the birthplace of George Gallup, who revolutionized the process of polling people. Born in 1901 in Jefferson, Iowa, Gallup attended the University of Iowa. While in school, he joined the college newspaper, which gave him the initial inspiration for the modern-day Gallup poll. He graduated from the university in 1928 with a Ph.D. in political science.

The origins of the Gallup Poll

While working on the Iowa University newspaper, George Gallup became intrigued with the habits of his readers. He often wondered why some newspaper articles would become popular, but not the other articles on the page. Mike Cowles of the Des Moines Register shared his interest and hired Gallup to work on surveying samples of the newspaper's readership. In those early years, Gallup would simply walk up to a person on the street with a copy of the newspaper and ask their opinion of certain items. He used this material to complete his doctoral thesis, which focused on methods of measuring a reader's interest in the newspaper.

The modern-day Gallup Poll

After graduating from the University of Iowa, George Gallup was hired on as the head of the Drake University school of journalism. This gave him a chance to work on polling the readership of several newspapers. He quickly moved from the educational sector to the commercial sector, joining a New York advertising agency three years later. While working with the Young & Rubicam, Inc. advertising agency, George Gallup focused on polling the population to get information for the company's clients. Gallup recognized the growth of this industry and formed the American Institute of Public Opinion in 1935. Riding on the popularity of his polling system during the 1936 presidential campaigns, Gallup then created the Gallup Organization, which still operates many of the polls in use today.