His eponymous polls have been gauging public opinion since 1936.
Hired in 1932 to conduct public-opinion surveys on behalf of its clients of an advertising firm in New York City, he developed methods to ensure accuracy in his results that made polling a trusted research method.
Despite his success, he did have a few notable misses--like calling the 1948 presidential election for Thomas Dewey over Harry S. Truman.
He was born in Jefferson, Iowa.
His first major success came in 1936, when he accurately predicted the winner of the U.S. presidential election would be Franklin D. Roosevelt.