Roper Center Board of Directors is proud to present the 2015 Warren J. Mitofsky Award for excellence in public opinion research to Daniel Yankelovich, prominent pioneer of modern opinion research, noted scholar, social scientist, and prophetic public opinion analyst.
Educated at Harvard (BA 1946 and MA 1950) and Paris Sorbonne University, Mr. Yankelovich began his commercial research career in 1958 with the founding of Daniel Yankelovich, Inc., the marketing research firm which in 1974 became Yankelovich, Skelly, and White, Inc. His firm conducted monthly polls for Time, one of the earliest ongoing survey collections done with a major news magazine.
Along with former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Mr. Yankelovich founded Public Agenda in 1975, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping citizens and leaders navigate divisive issues and work together on solutions. Mr. Yankelovich still serves as chairman.
Mr. Yankelovich taught at New York University and at the New School for Social Research. In 1981 the University of California at Irvine named him a distinguished Scholar and in 1996 he returned to Harvard as a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government. He holds honorary doctorates from Washington University, George Washington University, and St. Bonaventure University. Mr. Yankelovich is the author of more than thirteen books and hundreds of reports and articles. He has examined a broad array of topics and made extensive use of the Roper Center’s comprehensive data collections in order to more accurately and clearly communicate the views and behaviors of the American public. Explore Yankelovich Partners’ survey questions and datasets available at the Roper Center.
The 2015 Mitofsky Awards Committee included Lee Miringoff (chair), Robert Blendon, Murray Edelman, Claudia Deane, and Andrew Kohut.