The Literary Digest was an influential general-interest magazine in the early 20th century United States. This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

The Digest is almost certainly best-remembered today for the circumstances surrounding its demise. It conducted a poll regarding the likely outcome of the 1936 presidential election. The poll showed that governor of Kansas Alf Landon would likely be the overwhelming winner. This seemed possible to some, as Landon carried Maine, where the voting was held in September (as opposed to the rest of the nation, where the election was held in November as it is now). This seemed especially likely in light of the conventional wisdom, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation", a truism coined because Maine was regarded as a "bellweather" state which usually supported the winning candidate. Presidential electoral votes by state. ... The Governor of Kansas holds the supreme executive power of the State as provided by the first article of the Kansas Constitution. ... Alfred M. Landon Alfred Mossman Alf Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12, 1987) was an American Republican politician from Kansas, notable nationally for his 1936 nomination as the Republican opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... State nickname: The Pine Tree State Other U.S. States Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Governor John Baldacci Official languages None Area 86,542 km² (39th)  - Land 80,005 km²  - Water 11,724 km² (13. ... September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ...

In November, Landon carried only Vermont in addition to the Maine electoral votes that he had already garnered; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt carried the then-46 other states; Landon's electoral vote total of eight is a record low for a major-party nominee since the current U.S. two-party system began in the 1850s. The magazine was completely discredited due to the poll and was soon discontinued. State nickname: The Green Mountain State Other U.S. States Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Governor Jim Douglas Official languages None Area 24,923 km² (45th)  - Land 23,974 km²  - Water 949 km² (3. ... State nickname: The Pine Tree State Other U.S. States Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Governor John Baldacci Official languages None Area 86,542 km² (39th)  - Land 80,005 km²  - Water 11,724 km² (13. ... The United States Electoral College is the electoral college which chooses the President and Vice President of the United States at the conclusion of each Presidential election. ... President of the United States - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... A two-party system is a type of party system where only two political parties have a realistic chance of winning an election. ... Events and Trends Crimean war (1854 - 1856) fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. ...

In retrospect, the polling techniques employed by the magazine were to blame. It had surveyed firstly its own readers, a group with disposable incomes well above the national average of the time (shown in part by their ability still to afford a magazine subscription during the depths of the Great Depression). This base was supplemented by two other readily-available lists, that of registered automobile owners and that of telephone users. While such lists might come close to providing a statistically-accurate cross-section of Americans currently, this assumption was mainifestly untrue in the 1930s. Both groups had income well above the national average of the day, and resulted in lists of voters far more likely to support Republicans than a truly typical voter of the time. --209. ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... A telephone handset A touch-tone telephone dial Telephone This article is about telephone technology. ... Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented First atom was split with a particle accelerator Golden Age of radio begins in U.S. Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...

This debacle led to a considerable refinement of public opinion polling techniques and was largely regarded as spurring the beginning of the era of modern scientific public opinion research.