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, is a survey (human research), human research survey of public opinion from a particular sampling (statistics), 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 Princeton University, who expanded the scope of the field. Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; applica ...

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

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, son of Arthur M. Free, a six-term Congressman. He was a

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for his father, and studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, graduating as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

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., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

to study law, then transferred to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

where in 1934 he obtained the

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

.Literature Resource Center (2003) "Lloyd A. Free",

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Most of Free’s career looked beyond his native land: In 1931 he taught

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Yenching University Yenching University () was a Private university, private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" come ...

. Then he served as commentator in the

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, covering communication studies, political science, current public opinion, and survey ...

and conducted

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

s in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In the war against

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, 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 (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in their communication operations before continuing similarly with the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

. 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 Benjamin Ingrim Page (born 17 September 1940) is the Gordon S. Fulcher professor of decision making at Northwestern University. His interests include American politics and U.S. foreign policy, with particular interests in public opinion and policy ...

and Laurence R. Jacobs. Free was a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

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 Freedom of the press refers to legal protections for public communications media. Free Press may also refer to: Publications * ''Free Press'' (CPBF), the journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom * ''Free Press'' (Malayalam magaz ...

* 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'',

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and

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(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 Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

References

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

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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