Abstract
Early in I948, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Elmo C. Wilson, all of whom had been directly concerned with the election study conducted in Erie County, Ohio, during the I940 presidential campaign, decided to repeat and elaborate that study during the 1948 campaign, and to formulate plans for a continuing study of voting behavior. Accordingly, a group of interested sponsors was assembled, and a community selected for an intensive continuing analysis of the political thinking of a sample of the population during the period prior to and immediately following the presidential elections. The failure of the national polls correctly to predict the election has added significance to the findings from this cooperative research project, some of the preliminary findings of which are presented in this article. In addition to the three universitiesChicago, Columbia, and Cornell-which participated in this study, the sponsors include the Anti-Defamation League, Columbia Broadcasting System, Elmo Roper, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, the Elmira Star Gazette, and Time, Inc. The field work was conducted by International Public Opinion Research, Inc. The author is a staff member of International Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
