“The key to progress, innovation, and development of something better is approaching familiar problems with methods we have not used before or tackling problems we could not solve before. If something significant seems impossible then it is worthy of attention.”
Warren Mitofsky
Public Perspective, 1998
Warren believed strongly in the Roper Center’s mission of preserving and providing access to good analytical data. Exit Polls help make clear what the election means and what voters are signaling they want, he once explained in an interview with Public Perspective, following up with “Giving people a bigger and clearer voice is important.”
In Warren’s writings and his actions, he was a strong advocate of full disclosure and what better means of disclosing your data than archiving with a professional data archive. He helped establish the standards by which the Roper Center accepts and rejects data files. His dedication to the principles of the archives is emphasized by his service to the activities of the Roper Center over many years. Here are just a few of the highlights of this service.
Warren Mitofsky…
Active member of the Roper Center Board of Directors for over 25 years.
Unanimously elected Board Chairman in 2004.
Executive Committee of the Board from 1991 to 2006.
Served on the Executive Director Search Committee in 1999-2000.
Chair of Acquisitions, Scientific Standards & Priorities Committee 2000-2006.
Established relationships with data providers of the Center in order to secure unique collections—including polls of the Mexican government.
Authored more than 20 articles in Public Perspective.
Held seminars for students of the Masters in Public Opinion program at the University of Connecticut.
Trained journalists in the mid 1980s at the Roper Center’s Journalists Workshop program held at Williams College.
And he…
Always accepted invitations to share his broad knowledge of survey research with the students and faculty at the University of Connecticut at various colloquia and seminars.
The Warren J. Mitofsky Memorial Fund to Support the Roper Center
More of Warren's career highlights
Perhaps best known as the “father of the exit poll”, Warren began the practice of interviewing voters as they left voting polls on Election Day. The earliest national exit poll he conducted was in 1972 and may be found within the Roper Center archives.
Warren Mitofsky’s career began at the Census Bureau where he was responsible for the development of the random digit dialing telephone sampling method which has become the standard of the industry. In 1967 he joined CBS News as the first executive director of the election and survey unit and executive producer of its election night broadcasts. In 1990 Warren founded Voter Research & Surveys to conduct exit polling for a consortium of four TV networks. In 1993 he founded Mitofsky International, a firm that conducts exit polls for major elections around the world on behalf of news organizations.
