Field Poll To Shut Down After Tumultuous 2016 Election Season

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — One of California's most widely-respected polling services will shut down next month.

The Field Poll, which has measured public opinion on political and social issues for nearly 70 years, is going out of business, according to director Mark DiCamillo.

In an email to various news outlets, DiCamillo said, "It is with great sadness that I must report to you that our parent company, HAVAS Advertising, will be closing Field Research next year."

There was no reason cited by DiCamillo for the move.

According to CBS San Francisco's Doug Sovern., "2016 proved fatal" for the state's most well-known pollster.

Originally established in 1947 as The California Poll by Mervin Field, The Field Poll was long seen as the standard bearer in California public polling, but appeared to stumble in the 2016 election cycle, which saw Hillary Clinton perform much better in the June primary than numbers from the Field Poll suggested.

After President-elect Donald Trump decisively won the electoral vote - if not the popular vote - DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee some Trump voters across the nation may have been less eager to publicly support their candidate in traditionally Democratic strongholds.

"This may be a case where social desirability effects were in play," he said.