Opinion research developed from market research. Early market researchers picked small samples of the population and used them to obtain information on such questions as how many people read a given magazine or listen to the radio and what the public likes and dislikes in regard to various consumer goods. About 1930 both commercial researchers and scholars began to experiment with the use of these market research techniques to obtain information on opinions about political issues. In 1935 the American public opinion statistician George Gallup began conducting nationwide surveys of opinions on political and social issues in the United States. One of the first questions asked by the American Institute of Public Opinion, later to be called the Gallup Poll, was “Are Federal expenditures for relief and recovery too great, too little, or about right?” To this, 60 percent of the sample replied that they were too great, only 9 percent thought they were too little, and 31 percent regarded them as about right (the poll did not have a category for those who had no opinion).

From the 1930s on, the spread of opinion polls conducted by both commercial and academic practitioners continued at an accelerated pace in the United States. State and local polls—some sponsored by newspapers—were started in many parts of the country, and opinion research centres were organized at several universities. Before and during World War II, opinion polls were extensively used by U.S. government agencies, notably the Department of Agriculture, the Treasury Department, and the War Department.

Regional and global surveys

At the same time, opinion research was increasingly used in other parts of the world. Affiliates of the American Institute of Public Opinion were organized in Europe and Australia in the late 1930s, and, following World War II, polling organizations appeared in numerous countries of Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The World Association for Public Opinion Research was founded in 1947.

Several regional and multicountry surveys were established in the 20th century. Studies of the European Economic Community first appeared as the Eurobarometer Surveys in 1974. The twice-yearly surveys, sponsored by the European Union, use a common questionnaire to determine trends in attitudes in categories such as cultural and national identity, international relations, living conditions, media, political participation, values and religion, and policy debates within the European Union. The core survey is augmented by in-depth investigations of subjects such as the role of women, energy use and the environment, alcohol consumption, health, and the future of pension programs.

Other regional studies, often led by university research programs or NGOs as well as by national governments, have been developed around the world. The Latinobarometer, based in Chile, publishes an annual study of attitudes toward democracy, trust in institutions, and other topical issues pertaining to Latin American countries. Similar comparative regional barometer surveys have been undertaken in eastern Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. The International Social Survey Program, better known as the ISSP Survey, is a collaborative effort involving research organizations in many parts of the world. Its survey topics include work, gender roles, religion, and national identity. The World Values Survey takes a slightly more political tack by examining the ways in which religious views, identity, or individual beliefs correspond to larger phenomena such as democracy and economic development. Using World Values Survey results, the American political scientist Ronald Inglehart found that democratic institutions develop and endure only in societies that emphasize what he called “self-expression values,” including individual autonomy, tolerance, trust, and political activism. This value orientation is also known as postmaterialism.

Increasingly, corporations, NGOs, and other multinational charities and interest groups have sponsored international comparative studies, as have some countries. Many of these studies are conducted by commercial research companies that are themselves becoming multinational organizations.

Any opinion research that aims to be truly international faces a number of challenges. First, the program must identify issues that can be studied in several different countries, if not throughout the world. Next, in developing the survey, the project leaders must determine ways to frame questions—many of which demand cultural sensitivity and careful wording—comparably from one country to the next. Many such surveys, however, fail to cover every region of the world adequately. The countries of the Middle East, for example, tend to be underrepresented, and in some less-developed countries these surveys are carried out only in urban centres.

World opinion

Near the end of the 20th century, the increasing importance of global telecommunication, trade, and transportation contributed to interest in a new concept of world public opinion, or “world opinion.” The idea began to receive serious academic consideration as scholars noticed certain global homogeneities in views and attitudes as well as in tastes and consumer behaviour.

According to the American political scientist Frank Rusciano, world opinion can be understood as “the moral judgments of observers which actors must heed in the international arena, or risk isolation as a nation.” Rusciano argued that a “world opinion” of sorts can be identified when there is general consensus among informed and interested individuals around the world involving: (1) the major issues that form the agenda for world opinion, (2) the relative emphasis or importance allotted these issues over time, and (3) the dates or time period in which these issues were important. The challenge posed by the development of world opinion, he concluded, concerns a country’s image in the world—that is, its reputation in world opinion. Citing examples such as Germany in the wake of reunification, South Africa during the era of apartheid, and the United States since the end of the Cold War, Rusciano suggested that some countries will adjust their actions in the world in order to maintain or strengthen their reputations in world opinion.

Some scholars have been skeptical of the notion of world opinion, arguing that it lacks methodological rigour. They question how the views of millions of people living in poverty or under authoritarian or totalitarian regimes can be accounted for and compared with the views of those living in democracies. By definition, world opinion cannot be measured, because there is no single general framework capable of drawing representative samples from the populations of different countries. Moreover, the rural areas of many developing countries—including China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, much of the Middle East, and most countries of Africa—are largely untouched by public opinion polling. Consequently, any formulation of world opinion tends to represent only the opinions of social and political elites living in urban centres. Although this emphasis may be partly justified by the fact that elite groups are able to influence events in their countries, it fails to represent the world population as a whole on the basis of one person, one vote. In order to achieve such global representation, a prototypical poll would need to accommodate the population disparities between countries by weighting, for example, the views of a single Chinese respondent with a factor roughly 100 times greater than that assigned to the views of a single British or American respondent. And there are instances of countries that choose to go against public opinion. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, for example, Iceland, Norway, and Japan continued to allow commercial whaling operations despite an international moratorium (1986) and criticisms and protests from around the world.

Despite these difficulties, Rusciano identified certain events, such as the First Persian Gulf War (1990–91), whose outcomes were bolstered by world opinion. He claimed that a prevailing world attitude of support for the defense of Kuwait effectively isolated Iraq and its president, Saddam Hussein, and contributed to a swift U.S.-led victory against the Iraqi forces that had invaded Kuwait. In Rusciano’s view, although world opinion may succeed in supporting, controlling, or limiting conflicts in certain instances, it is better conceived, at least for the present, as one among many variables utilized by political leaders in their formulation of foreign policy.