Gallup, fundamentalism and biasing

[Beth Benoit]

Title: Gallup, fundamentalism and biasing

I was curious about this Annette, so did a little research.  George Gallup, of Gallup Poll fame, died in 1984 (he was 83), so that precludes any present personal biasing of results.  However...

A look at the Gallup Organization's website (www.gallup.com) doesn't reveal anything that smacks of fundamentalism, or even religion at all, with the one exception of their publication of a book entitled The Spiritual Life of Young Americans, written by Old Man Gallup's son, George, Jr., who is co-chairman of Gallup.  (Not the president, I noticed.)  But writing about spiritual surveys doesn't necessarily mean anything.  Their other publications seem to be oriented toward business management and inspiration more along the line of how to succeed in business.

I was all set to post this, then got an idea to enter "Christianity" into the Gallup search.  Guess who is, among other positions, an advising editor of Christianity Today (a magazine founded by Billy Graham):  George, Jr.  Then I searched some more and found some interesting stuff about Jr., who graduated from Princeton with a degree in Religion.   The text of the following, a "message" (read:  "sermon") by Jr., complete with biography, is very heavy with religiosity and spiritual hand-wringing.  ("What is the answer to society's basic needs? How are people's needs to be met? As a Christian I believe they are met in the Living Presence of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. ")   
   http://www.30goodminutes.org/csec/sermon/gallup_3915.htm

Does this mean he biases the questions in the Gallup polls?  A very good question.  Reading further down in his little sermon, there is a lot of reference to things the polls have found about peoples' spiritual lives.  From an intellectual point of view, I'd have to say again that his personal religious background doesn't have to mean anything.  But I also know about the personal guidelines that are experienced by many, many people whose religious fervor might be described as "fundamentalist."  (I have some distant family experience here.)  My personal experience has been that fundamentalists feel they are behaving immorally if they fail to do whatever is necessary to promote Christianity.  (With all due respect, most at least give lip service - as Jr. did in the above sermon - to respect for other religions.)  

This may be surprising to those without this exposure, but I don't think it's going too far to liken the fervor of Fundamentalist Christianity to the fervor of any other fundamentalist sect.  (Okay, I can't quite bear to liken it to a particular sect that has done much to frighten all Americans post 9/11, though by even acknowledging this thought, I suppose I am...)

This could certainly be an interesting topic for a Research Methods course.  

Okay, I have to stop playing with TIPS and get to making up that test...

Beth Benoit
University System of New Hampshire

on 9/20/02 10:05 AM, Annette Taylor, Ph. D. at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>
>
>
> Speaking of Gallup Polls, I recently heard that old man Gallup himself is a
> very devout fundamental christian and that in fact there tends to be some bias
> in his sampling procedures to favor his viewpoints.
>
> Any truth to this at all ? Anyone have any references?
> Gee, I am full of ignorance this week :-(
>
> Thanks
>
> Annette
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