HARRIS, LOUIS

born Jan. 6, 1921, New Haven, Conn., U.S. U.S. pollster and public opinion analyst, founder of Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. (1956), and director of the Time MagazineHarris Poll since 1969. The son of a real-estate developer, Harris studied in economics at the University of North Carolina (A.B., 1942) and served in the U.S. Naval Reserve (194246). In 1947 he joined the polling firm headed by Elmo Roper, writing Roper's newspaper columns and radio scripts and engaging in political research. In 1956 he left Elmo Roper and Associates and established his own firm in New York City. By 1962 he was the chief polling analyst for CBS News; in 1969 he switched to ABC News. He concurrently was a columnist for the Washington Post and Newsweek (196368) and for the Chicago TribuneNew York Daily News Syndicate (from 1969). Harris' services were especially associated with election campaignsinitially and most notably with John F. Kennedy's campaign and later with the campaigns of hundreds of other candidates, including presidents, governors, U.S. senators and representatives, mayors, and other officials, both Democrats and Republicans. Harris' firm helped candidates to determine what strategies and issues and aspects of personality might be most effective with voters. Harris also did much of his work outside politicsin market research for commercial clients. Harris is the author of Is There a Republican Majority? (1954), The Negro Revolution in America (1964, with William Bunk), Black and White (1967), and Black-Jewish Relations in New York City: The Anguish of Change (1973).