Lyndon Johnson and the Public Polls

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between President Lyndon Johnson and those who take published polls. As his poll ratings declined, Johnson used a number of methods to convince those with influence that he was more popular than the polls indicated. These methods included direct and indirect attacks on the polls, leaks of private polls, attempts to influence the results, and courting the pollsters. The article argues that the last of these poses a danger to the objectivity of the pollsters. Secretly giving advice to and taking private polls for a president are incompatible with the role of objective measurer of public opinion.