Gary Langer is an internationally recognized public opinion researcher with expertise in analysis of political, policy, economic and social attitudes, questionnaire design and survey methodology and management. With more than 30 years in the field, Langer, a longtime director of polling at ABC News, has overseen and analyzed many hundreds of surveys on a broad range of topics.
Langer has won two Emmy awards and received 10 Emmy nominations – the first and only to cite public opinion polls – and was honored with the 2010 Policy Impact Award of the American Association for Public Opinion Research for a series of surveys in Afghanistan and Iraq, described in AAPOR’s citation as “a stellar example of high-impact public opinion polling at its finest.” He’s a two-time winner of the University of Iowa-Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls, produced a pair of ABC News polls recognized by the Excellence in Media Coverage of Polls Award from the National Council on Public Polls and shared a DuPont-Columbia Award for ABC’s 9/11 coverage. Langer and his colleagues shared a 2015 David R. Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research with ESPN and its partner research firms for their work on fan interest in the College Football Playoffs.
Langer created ABC’s industry-leading poll standards and vetting procedures and has promoted disclosure initiatives through various professional organizations. He’s authored or co-authored nearly 30 scholarly papers or book chapters and given scores of invited presentations on the meaning and measurement of public attitudes.
Langer is vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, a trustee of the National Council on Public Polls and past president of the New York chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He’s a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of New Hampshire.