What ever happened to the Roper Poll?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Anybody remember the Roper Poll? I seem to recall that they were one of the most reliable pollsters in '88, showing Dukakis with a handy lead after the rest of the media had given up on him.

What ever happened to this pollster?

[J. J.]

Sold and they basically do consumer polls/market research.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmo_Roper

He was never considered "reliable."

[ShadowOfTheWave]

Anybody remember the Roper Poll? I seem to recall that they were one of the most reliable pollsters in '88, showing Dukakis with a handy lead after the rest of the media had given up on him.

What ever happened to this pollster?

So them showing Dukakis with a handy lead made them one of the most reliable pollsters? You do realize he lost right?

[J. J.]

Anybody remember the Roper Poll? I seem to recall that they were one of the most reliable pollsters in '88, showing Dukakis with a handy lead after the rest of the media had given up on him.

What ever happened to this pollster?

So them showing Dukakis with a handy lead made them one of the most reliable pollsters? You do realize he lost right?

I can remember him from 1980.  Gallup was the gold standard.

Anyone remember Harris?

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I think it might have had to do with their Holocaust poll: "Does it seem possible, or does it seem impossible to you that the Nazi extermination of the Jews never happened?"  One of my PoliSci instructors at my college mentioned this Roper poll, which was taken in the early 90s.  You might be familiar with it.  It showed about a third of Americans expressing doubts as to whether the Holocaust was real, which shocked many because it was only about 50 years since it had occurred and most of the WWII veterans who had liberated the concentration camps were still alive.  The question was confusing (double negative: "impossible that it never happened"), and Gallup took the poll with a differently-worded question, and the results showed a significantly smaller percentage of people doubting the reality of the Holocaust.

And of course, Dukakis lost, so I don't see how they were one of the most reliable pollsters if they had him leading, after he began to drop.