Field, Mervin (1921-)

MERVIN FIELD IS one of the earliest pollsters, founding the Field Research Corporation after World War II. He has been described as “California's pollster and interpreter to the nation.” In 1937, while a high school student in Princeton, New Jersey, field met Dr. George Gallup (1901–84), one of the pioneers of survey research. As a result of this meeting, Field became interested in survey research and conducted his first poll during his school's senior-class presidency election. He also worked for Gallup while he was a student. After attending Rutgers University and the University of Missouri, Field founded the Field Research Corporation (FRC) in 1945 in Los Angeles, California.

A year later, he founded the Field (California) Poll, as an independent, nonpartisan, media-sponsored public opinion news service. His plan was to create a poll, similar to the Gallup Poll, on subjects of interest to Califor-nians and then syndicate it to California newspapers. In the early days of the firm, at a time when survey research was not yet widely accepted, Field managed to support the company by taking a night job at a gas station.

The Field Poll has operated continuously for six decades as a survey of Californians' opinions and attitudes on social and political issues. The surveys track voter preferences on statewide candidate and proposition elections, assess public opinion about elected officials' performance and major issues facing the state, and measure reactions to social developments and current events.

Since its inception, the Field Poll (and the second Field publication, the California Opinion Index) has issued over 2,300 reports. Field has tracked voter preferences in every California election since 1948, the fob Performance Ratings of California Governors since 1959, and the fob Performance Ratings of U.S. Presidents by Californians since 1961.

His surveys have also offered insights into how Californians have felt about such issues as abortion, the death penalty, healthcare, the environment, and immigration. In order to ensure that its polling is considered nonpartisan, the Field Research Corporation has not done studies for political candidates or initiative campaign organizations.

In 1976, Field established the Field Institute, which took over the Field Poll's operations from the Field Research Corporation. The Field Poll, while establishing Mr. Field's reputation as a pollster and allowing him to attract clients for the corporation, was not profitable. The institute was created as a nonpartisan, nonprofit public-policy research organization that is financially supported by academic institutions, government agencies, foundations, and the news media. In 1979, Field was the recipient of the American Association for Public Opinion Research's Award for distinguished achievement in conducting or advancing public opinion research.

During the 1980s, Field was one of the first pollsters to introduce Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), which made interviewing more efficient and facilitated more expedient analysis of data. Until the mid-1970s, many polls were conducted through interviewers visiting potential respondents at home. Virtually all pollsters in the United States now use CATI.