Chapter 11 Political Socialization and Public Opinion American

Chapter 11 Political Socialization and Public Opinion American Government: Continuity and Change 9 th Edition to accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions O’Connor and Sabato Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008

How Political Socialization and other Factors Influence Opinion Formation o Political Socialization n The process through which an individual acquires particular political orientations n The learning process by which people acquire their political beliefs and values

Agents of Socialization o o o o Family School and Peers Mass Media Religious Beliefs Race and Ethnicity Gender Age Region

The Impact of Events o Key political events play a very important role in a person’s socialization. o Nixon’s resignation in 1974 n Impression on young people n Government not always right or honest o Survey in 2006 (18 -20) n Failed to report a single political event that affected them during their early school years o Many of the major studies conducted in the aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam War n Trust in government

Public Opinion and Polling o What the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time o Public opinion polls n Interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population o George Gallup

The History of Public Opinion Research o 1883 Boston Globe polled voters o 1916 Literary Digest polling n Predict presidential elections n Correct from 1920 to 1932

History of Public Opinion Research o Public opinion polling as we know it did not begin to develop until the 1930 s. n Spurred on by Lippman’s Public Opinion (1922) o Earlier straw polls used n n n Unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies Literary Digest George Gallup o Correctly predicted the results of the 1936 presidential contest n Techniques became more sophisticated in the 1940 s. o Dewey incorrectly predicted as winner

Recent Efforts to Measure Public Opinion o Gallup Organization o National Election Study o Internet n Harris Interactive

How Public Opinion is Measured o Traditional public opinion polls n Determine the content phrasing the questions n Selecting the sample o Random sampling: a method of poll selection that gives each person the same chance of being selected o Stratified sampling: A variation of random sampling; census data are used to divide the country into four sampling regions. Sets of counties and standard metropolitan statistical areas are then randomly selected in proportion to the total national population n Contacting respondents

Political Polls o Push Polls n Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate o Tracking Polls n Continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support o Exit Polls n Polls conducted at selected polling places on Election Day

Shortcomings of Polling o Inaccurate results can be dangerous. o Voter News Service made errors during the presidential election of 2000 estimating Florida n Failed to estimate the number of voters accurately n Used an inaccurate exit poll model n Incorrectly estimated the number of African American and Cuban voters n Results lead to an early calling of the election o VNS disbanded in 2003 o Major networks and Associated Press joined together to form a new polling consortium, the National Election Pool

Shortcomings of Polling o Sampling Error n Sampling error or margin of error o A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll o Limited Respondent Options o Lack of Information o Difficulty Measuring Intensity

Why We Form and Express Political Opinions o Personal Benefits o Political Knowledge o Cues from Leaders or Opinion Makers o Political Ideology

Personal Benefits o Most Americans more “I” centered o Attitudes on moral issues are often based on underlying values. o If faced with policies that do not: n Affect us personally n Are not moral in nature …Then we have difficulty forming an opinion. o Foreign policy is such an example.

Political Knowledge o Political knowledge and political participation have a reciprocal relationship. o Level of knowledge about history and politics low n Hurts Americans’ understanding of current political events o Geographically illiterate o Gender differences

Cues from Leaders o Low levels of knowledge can lead to rapid opinion shifts on issues. o Political leaders may move these shifts. n President is in an important position to mold public opinion n But who is truly leading-- the public or the president?

Political Ideology o An individual’s coherent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and scope of government o Can prompt citizens to form a certain set of policy programs and influence view of the role of government in the policy process o 35% say they are moderate, 30% say they are conservative, and 29% say they are liberal.

The Effects of Public Opinion and Polling on Government and Politics o Politicians and government spend millions each year to take the pulse of the public. o They rely on polls but we do not know to what degree. o Ginsberg: critical of the passive voice of public opinion o George Gallup’s response: One might as well insist that a thermometer makes the weather.