Chapter 6 Public Opinion 1 Public Opinion The

Chapter 6 - Public Opinion

1. Public Opinion The collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public and groups within the public.

2. How do we measure public opinion? A. Polls B. Surveys C. Questionnaires etc. - Conducted by organizations, news sources, individuals, etc. • Independent or political pollsters • PROLIFIC! • May ask for opinions on a policy, candidate, event etc.

3. Do politicians follow Public Opinion? Three types of Substantive Representation (the tendency of politicians to advocate on behalf of certain groups). a. Delegate -Yes • A member of congress who loyally represents constituents’ direct interests b. Trustee - No • Represents constituents’ interests ALSO national, collective, and moral concerns that MAY cause the member to vote against the preference of a majority of his/her constituents. c. Politico - Maybe • A member of Congress who acts as a delegate on issues that constituents care about (e. g. immigration) and as a trustee on more complex or less salient issues (e. g. foreign policy) The style used by a representative comes from their level of security in their district and the nature of their constituency

4. What is Political Socialization and the agents of Political Socialization: - Political Socialization – the process by which an individual’s political opinions are shaped by other people and the surrounding culture. - Agents of Political Socialization: • Family/Parents • Community • Events • Group Identity • Politicians and other political actors

5. What is Political Ideology: - A system of interrelated and coherently organized political beliefs and attitudes. It helps give meaning to political events.

Favors: - active central government with social and economic responsibilities - a more equal distribution of wealth - more government regulation of big business - more government spending on social programs & abortion. Opposes: - increases in defense spending/military actions, prayer in school, and tax breaks for the wealthy. Liberalism

Favors: - limited government & freedom of the private sector - More likely to support military spending, free markets, prayer in school, and reduced taxes. Opposes: - abortion, affirmative action, and government spending on social programs. Conservatism

Centrist voters often mean that they are moderate in their political views, advocating neither extreme leftwing politics nor extreme right-wing politics. Independent/Moderate

6. Political Ideologies (cont’d): a) Conservatism: Political philosophy that favors limited government and freedom of the private sector. More likely to support military spending, free markets, prayer in school, and reduce taxes. Opposes abortion, affirmative action, and government spending on social programs.

6. Political Ideologies (cont’d): b) Liberalism: Favors an active central government with social and economic responsibilities, a more equal distribution of wealth, more government regulation of big business, more government spending on social programs, and abortion. Opposes increases in defense spending and military actions, prayer in school, and tax breaks for the wealthy.

C. Independent/Moderate: Centrist voters often mean that they are moderate in their political views, advocating neither extreme left-wing politics nor extreme right-wing politics.

7. Types of Polls: a. Public Opinion Poll: An assessment of public opinion obtained by questioning a representative sample.

b. Exit Poll: Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters and taken after people vote to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.

Type of poll repeated periodically with the same group of people to check and measure changes of opinion or knowledge. Tracking Poll

c. Tracking Poll: Type of poll repeated periodically with the same group of people to check and measure changes of opinion or knowledge.

d. Straw Poll: An unofficial ballot conducted as a test of opinion. An adhoc poll or unofficial vote. It can be used to help politicians know the majority opinion and help them decide what to say in order to gain votes.

e. Push Poll: An opinion poll in which the true objective is to sway voters using loaded or manipulative questions. Push Poll

Ways to measure Public Opinion: 8. What are Mass Surveys and how are they done: : ask a large sample population to gauge the tone of a larger group. • In person, on the phone – 100 s or 1000 s of people • Target particular groups: senior citizens, a certain region, all adults etc. • Population: the group of people that researcher or pollster wants to study • Sample: within a population, the group of people surveyed in order to gauge the whole population’s opinion. • It would be impossible to interview the entire population

9. Problems Measuring Public Opinion with Mass Surveys a. Face-to-face interviewing is best, but it is difficult to generate a random sample. b. Random digit dialing is useful, but the inability to call cell phone numbers may be a problem. c. Robo-polls face criticism and doubts about sample selection.

Measuring Public Opinion: • The Accuracy of Public Opinion • Some of the claims that the public are exceptionally illinformed assume that people take surveys very seriously when, in fact, they may not. • The more relevant the survey question is to one’s everyday life, the more seriously the respondent tends to be.

Measuring Public Opinion: 10. Survey results are most believable when: • The many problems with surveys are taken seriously by the survey developer. • The questions are simple to understand. • The topic is familiar. • Multiple surveys confirm the same result.

11. What is Random Sampling: Surveys where each ember of the population has an equal chance of being in the group. It is the gold standard in survey research.

12. What is Sampling Error and how can you reduce it? Level of confidence in a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be in the survey. Emerges because no matter how good the work, it is never an exact match for the population.

13. Describe the relationship between polling and elections? Polls play an important role in politics. Used by candidates and the media to see who is ahead and likely win. The results, largely determine where future monies are spent and where each candidate's efforts will be concentrated.

14. How do these agents influence party identification? Party ID tends to stay the same for life once formed, barring major changes in experience/ within the party a. Race • African Americans & Mexican Americans – Democratic, but Cuban-Americans tend to be Republican. b. Gender • Overall women vote more for Democrats and men for Republicans. However, Evangelical Christian women vote Republican. c. Religion • Catholics shift between Democrats and Republicans, – abortion and birth control influence. - Evangelical Christians – abortion, gay marriage etc. - tend to vote Republican. d. Education (impacts income) • College liberalizes but not 100% • College educated conservatives tend to be more liberal than their non-collegiate peers but they don’t tend to switch parties.

e. Income: (more influential than race) • Middle class white collar – Republican/ Blue collar/union – Democrat. f. Location: (closely tied to income) - Urban – Democratic. Suburban – Republican. - South – Republican. - Pacific Coast - Democratic. - Northeast – Democrat. - Midwest – historically Democrat. - Plains/Mountain West – Republican, except Colorado, New Mexico, & Nevada. g. Age: less important than people think, but young tend to be more liberal and old more conservative, but many follow parents’ lead.

15. When do minorities participate more than whites in the political Process? - When they have equal or better income or education levels. 16. Describe the main forms of Political Participation: a) Conventional participation: ■ ■ ■ Voting Running for office Collecting signatures for a petition b) Protest as Participation: ■ ■ Protesting – seeks media attention and doesn’t break laws. Civil disobedience – intentionally breaks an unjust law. Also seeks media attention, however.

C) Class, Inequality, and Participation: - Higher socio-economic status = higher participation rates. - The problem for people with lower socioeconomic status is multifold. They vote in lower percentages than wealthier people, have less influence (money can equal access to power), and get fewer favorable policies made into law.

18. Census: The actual “enumeration” of the population, which the Constitution requires every 10 years. It is a valuable tool for understanding demographic changes, allocating funding to states, etc. and reapportioning House boundaries. Reapportionment is the redrawing of House of Representatives seats every 10 years by state legislatures.

In addition, the Census is very important process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census. (D) Lloyd Doggett’s District Reapportionment