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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Father of Field Poll, Mervin Field, Dead at 94

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Mervin Field - the father of the public-opinion research survey through his Field poll - has died of natural causes at the age of 94, his family said Monday.

Field developed his love for survey research as a high-school junior, when he met polling pioneer Dr. George Gallup. He went on to work for Gallup Poll in his native New Jersey prior to World War II.

He later developed his iconic Field poll as an independent, nonpartisan public-opinion news service with an emphasis on California. Over the next seven decades, the Field poll gave California news outlets a way to report on political and public-policy trends based on the responses of a cross-section of California voters.

Although not always accurate, Field's polls have consistently beaten out rivals to predict the shifting sands of California's political trends. Consultants have praised the Field poll not just for its ability to nail down candidates, but also the issues that have affected voters in the Golden State since the late 1940s.

The Field poll has been directed since 1995 by one of Field's aides, Mark DiCamillo, and has issued over 2,500 reports with DiCamillo at the helm.

Field was preceded in death by his second wife, Marilyn Hammer. He is survived by two daughters, a son and a grandson.

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