GmbH | |
Industry | Public opinion research |
Genre | Opinion polling |
Founded | 1947 |
Founder |
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann Erich Peter Neumann |
Headquarters | Allensbach, Germany |
Key people
|
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann Renate Köcher |
Revenue | €8,500,000 (2005) |
Number of employees
|
100 |
Website | www.ifd-allensbach.de/ |
The Allensbach Institute, formally the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research or Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Polling (German: Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach), is a private conservativeopinion polling institute based in Allensbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Founded in 1947 by political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann and journalist Erich Peter Neumann, and modelled after Paul Lazarsfeld's Wirtschaftspsychologische Forschungsstelle at the University of Vienna, the Allensbach Institute was the first public opinion research institute in Germany, depending primarily on the sale of market research studies for financing. The institute conducted the "first [post-war] inquiry to assess former Nazi support", and was contracted by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950 to carry out monthly surveys of domestic public opinion.
In 1988, political economist Renate Köcher, a former advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, became managing director of the institute alongside Noelle-Neumann, who was also the sole shareholder in the company. Noelle-Neumann transferred ownership of the institute to the Allensbach Foundation for Public Opinion Research (German: Stiftung Demoskopie Allensbach) in May 1996.