George Gallup Jr.’s family name was to opinion polls what iPod is to mp3 players. Gallup died this week at age 81, and merited obituaries in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. George Jr., as he was known professionally, was noted not only for his careful work in polling, but also for expanding and applying that methodology to the study of American religion.

Former Christianity Today associate editor Timothy K. Jones collaborated with Gallup on two books:The Saints Among Us and The Next American Spirituality. Here he remembers the George Gallup he came to know. –David Neff
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * *

This week the world of trend watching and election forecasting lost a pioneer. For readers of newspapers and political blogs, he owned one of the most recognizable names in America. But there was more to him than the research firm that so captured the attention of pundits and politicians.

Through my years as a CT editor, I got to know the person behind the public opinion polling. I saw not only his fascination with cultural currents, but also his even deeper running love of the historic Christian faith.

I first met George Gallup, Jr., when I interviewed him for the magazine. A calendar milestone was approaching, and we knew he was a key person to consult on the coming decade, especially since he had been shifting some research focus to religion, having founded the Princeton Religion Research Project with sociologist and Catholic nun Miriam Murphy in 1977.

During the interview, I learned that he had just completed a research project on what Americans believed and the potential impact of that faith on how they behaved. He wanted to do more than chart the percentages of people who subscribed to certain doctrinal norms. He wondered how faith affected their actions: Did people who profess strong convictions about Christ and the Bible act more generously, for instance?

I eventually signed on as his cowriter for the book project that emerged. At one point we considered titling the book America’s Hidden Saints, but we ended up calling it The Saints Among Us.

Read More