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Notes
1. On straw polls also see Smith ( 1990).
2. The 1860 campaign was a particularly exciting one, since the slavery debate
raged, and war was near. Also, Stephen Douglas made extraordinary efforts to
win the campaign, even though his chances were sum.
3. Although one could conceivably study any of a number of major metropol-
itan dailies from the mid-nineteenth century, these three papers are especially
good candidates for analysis. The Tribune and Sun-Times are strong, competing
papers with different political ideologies, while the New York Times has long been
a national opinion leader among the press. For each newspaper, 15 sample days
were randomly selected between July 1 and election day.
The Sun-Times has not been a continuously published periodical: For elections
beginning with 1856, I studied the Chicago Times, for 1896, 1 used the Chicago
Times-Herald, and in 1936 I evaluated the Chicago Daily Times. For 1860, certain
editions of the Chicago Times could not be located, so those in the Illinois State
Historical Library were included in the sample. Only a few issues of the 1856
Tribune were located, and 1856 issues of the Chicago Times were missing.
4. The same was true for congressmen, who debated the merits of the sample
survey on the House floor. See Herbst, 1993.
5. See Herbst ( 1993) pp. 192-3, for methodological details on this study.
6. There are limitations associated with the "data" collected in any oral his-
torical study, since informants are asked to remember events and activities which
occurred long ago. Although one can find a variety of sophisticated discussions
of these problems in history journals -- particularly the Journal of American
History and the Oral History Review -- see Herbst ( 1993; pp. 94-5) for my perspec-
tive on memory problems in this study.
7. Perhaps the most vivid and entertaining portrait of socialization and cam-
eraderie among campaign journalists can be found in Crouse ( 1974), who
describes press activity during the 1972 presidential campaign.
8. For a broad discussion of varying conceptualizations of public opinion in
history, and some documentation of alternative routes for public opinion expres-
sion, see Herbst ( 1994).

-33-

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Publication Information: Book Title: Presidential Polls and the News Media. Contributors: Paul J. Lavrakas - editor, Michael W. Traugott - editor, Peter V. Miller - editor. Publisher: Westview Press. Place of Publication: Boulder, CO. Publication Year: 1995. Page Number: 33.
    
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