Public opinion poll/Catalogs
Public opinion polling organizations
There are many polling organizations. The most famous remains the very first one, the Gallup Organization, which was created by George Gallup in 1935.
Other major polling organizations in the U.S. include:
- The Pew Research Center conducts polls concentrating on media and political beliefs.
- The Harris Poll.
- The Roper Poll.
- The World Public Opinion provides in-depth information and analysis on public opinion from around the world on international issues.
- Nielsen Ratings, virtually always for television.
- Garin Hart Yang (Democratic)
- Ayres, McHenry & Associates (Republican)
- Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (Democratic)
- Moore Information (Republican)
- Frederick Polls (Democratic)
- OnMessage Inc. (Republican)
- Hickman-Maslin Research (Democratic)
- The Tarrance Group (Republican)
- Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (Democratic)
- Public Opinion Strategies (Republican)
- Quinnipiac Polls, run by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, and started as a student project.
- The National Opinion Research Center.
- Public Agenda, conducts research bridging the gap between what American leaders think and what the public really thinks.
In Britain the most notable "pollsters" are:
- MORI. This polling organisation is notable for only selecting those who say that they are "likely" to vote. This has tended to favour the Conservative Party in recent years.
- YouGov, an online pollster.
- GfK NOP
- ICR
- ICM
- Populus, official The Times pollster.
In Australia the most notable companies are:
- Newspoll - published in News Limited's The Australian newspaper
- Roy Morgan Research - published in the Crikey email reporting service
- Galaxy Polling - published in News Limited's tabloid papers
- AC Nielsen Polling - published in Fairfax newspapers
In Canada the most notable companies are:
- Angus Reid Strategies
- Ipsos-Reid
- Environics
- Ekos
- Decima
- Leger
- CROP
In Nigeria the most notable polling organization is:
All the major television networks, alone or in conjunction with the largest newspapers or magazines, in virtually every country with elections, operate polling operations, alone or in groups.
Several organizations monitor the behaviour of pollsters and the use of polling data, including PEW and, in Canada, the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy.[1]
The best-known failure of opinion polling to date in the U.S. was the prediction in 1948 that Thomas Dewey would defeat Harry S. Truman. Major polling organizations, including Gallup and Roper, indicated a landslide victory for Dewey.
In britain, most polls failed to predict the Conservative election victories of 1970 and 1992, and Labour's victory in 1974. However, their figures at other elections have been generally accurate.