Some Promising and Dismal California Political Participation Trends

Mervin Field

Mervin Field founded Field Research Corporation in 1946, and, later, the California Poll. The California Poll is a unique continuing public opinion news service, widely recognized as an authoritative source of public opinion utilizing sophisticated survey methodology. Since 1947, the California Poll has published more than 1500 reports on a wide variety of political, social and public policy issues.

In 1976, Mr. Field established the Field Institute, which took over the California Poll operation. The Field Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization sponsored by academic institutions, government agencies, foundations and various media.

Since 1956, the California Poll and, later, the Field Institute, has maintained a continuing relationship with the University of California and California State University campuses, wherein all of its survey data is regularly deposited. This extensive and growing body of poll data has become an invaluable resource for scholars and public policymakers. It is a unique and rich archive that is used in political science, journalism, sociology and survey research courses.

Field Research Corporation and the Field Institute now comprise one of the largest survey research centers with headquarters in the West. It has a permanent staff of more than 75 people and it regularly employs scores of part-time interviewers.

Mr. Field has held offices in the American Marketing Association and the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He helped establish the National Council of Published Polls, and is one of the founding directors of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations and a former director of the Advertising Research Foundation. He is a member of the Advisory Council to Roper Center Survey Research Center at UC Berkeley, the New York Market Research Council, European Society of Market Research and the World Association for Public Opinion Research.