Lloyd A. Free (29 September 1908 — 11 November 1996) was a

pollster An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

who worked with

Hadley Cantril Albert Hadley Cantril, Jr. (16 June 1906 – 28 May 1969) was an American psychologist from the Princeton University, who expanded the scope of the field. Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; appl ...

and the Institute for International Social Research (IISR). Lloyd was born in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, son of

Arthur M. Free Arthur Monroe Free (January 15, 1879 – April 1, 1953) was an American lawyer and politician who served six terms as a United States representative from California from 1921 to 1933. Biography He was born in San Jose, California and graduated ...

, a six-term Congressman. He was a campaign manager for his father, and studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, graduating as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of the Class of 1930. He went to

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

to study law, then transferred to Stanford University where in 1934 he obtained the Bachelor of Law.Literature Resource Center (2003) "Lloyd A. Free", Contemporary Authors,

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Yenching University Yenching University (), was a university in Beijing, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its status ...

. Then he served as commentator in the

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

radio studios of BBC and CBS. Returning to Princeton, for two years he taught in the School of Public and International Affairs. He became an editor of

Public Opinion Quarterly ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, covering communication studies and political science. It was established in 1937 and according to t ...

and conducted

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

s in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In the war against

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, Free joined the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service. He counted references to specific military units mentioned in propaganda broadcasts and made accurate inferences about enemy offensive movements. After the war he assisted

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in their communication operations before continuing similarly with the State Department. On February 11, 1946, he married Elsbeth Studer. He and

established the Institute for International Social Research. They did opinion polling in France, Nigeria, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines, publishing the results, frequently as an Institute publication. In 1968 they published ''The Political Beliefs of Americans'' which reported their finding that "Americans were not divided so much among themselves as within themselves with the same people professing a belief in a small, low-tax government while at the same time professing support for a wide range of big, expensive government programs." This study is "cited by analysts trying to explain what often seems to be a political impasse in efforts to balance the Federal budget." The paradox, phrased as "conservative egalitarianism", was confirmed in 2009 by Benjamin Page and Laurence R. Jacobs. Free was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the

World Association for Public Opinion Research The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is an international professional association of researchers in the field of survey research. It is a member organization of the International Science Council. History Established in 194 ...

Works

* 1956: (with Renzo Sereno
Italy: dependent ally or independent partner
Institute for International Social Research * 1959
Six allies and a neutral: a study of the international outlooks of political leaders in the United States, Britain,France, West Germany, Italy, Japan and India
Free Press * 1960: ''Attitudes of the Cuban People toward the Castro regime in late Spring of 1960'', IISR * 1960
A brief report on the dynamics of Philippine politics
Institute for International Social Research. * 1961: ''Some international implications of the political psychology of Brazilians'', IISR * 1964: ''The Attitudes, Hopes and Fears of Nigerians'', IISR * 1965: ''Attitudes, Hopes and Fears of the Dominican People'', IISR * 1967: (with

) ''The Political Beliefs of Americans, a study of Public Opinion'', Rutgers University Press and

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

(1968)Joseph C. Bevis (1969) Review: ''The Political Beliefs of Americans: a study of public opinion'',

33(1): 139–41 * 1969: ''International Attitudes in Four Asian Democracies; a study of parliamentary opinion in Japan, India, Malaysia and the Philippines, and public opinion in Japan in spring 1968'', IISR * 1973: (edited with William Watts) ''State of the Nation'', Universe Books, NY * 1976: ''How Others See Us'',

Lexington Books Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

References

* Robert McG. Thomas Jr. (November 14, 1996
Lloyd A. Free

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Free, Lloyd A. 1908 births 1996 deaths Pollsters People from San Jose, California Princeton University alumni Stanford University alumni International relations scholars