Chapter 8 Public Opinion Participation and Voting Questions

Chapter 8 Public Opinion, Participation, and Voting

Questions u What is Public Opinion? The distribution of individual preferences for, or evaluations of, a given issue, candidate, or institution within a specific population

Taking the Pulse of the People u In a RANDOM sample, every individual has a known chance of being selected. u Example: A survey of 18 -24 yr. old should not be done solely among college students, since 3/4 ths of the members of this age group do not attend college.

Polling Agencies u Major U. S. media polls • ABC News Polling Unit (2005–present). Access: http: //abcnews. go. com/US/Poll. Vault/. • The Associated Press/IPSOS Poll (2003–present). Access: http: //www. apipsosresults. com/. • CBS News Polls (Current year). Access: http: //www. cbsnews. com/sections/opinion/polls/main 500160. shtml. • Fox News Polls (2005–present). Access: http: //www. foxnews. com/polls/. • The L. A. Times Polls (1996–present). Access: http: //www. latimes. com/news/custom/timespoll/. • The New York Times Polls (2002–present). Access: http: //www. nytimes. com/ref/us/polls_index. html. • Time Magazine/SRBI Polls (2004 -present). Access: http: //www. srbi. com/timepoll_archive. html. • The Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll (subscription required). Access: http: //interactive. wsj. com/edition/resources/documents/pollhome. htm. • The Washington Post Polls (1997–present). Access: http: //www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault. htm. Major U. S. commercial and nonprofit polling organization sites • Gallup Brain http: //brain. gallup. com/.

Description of Polls -Random Sampling -Margin of Error usually + or – 3 -Art of asking questions (read exactly the same) -Reporting (sample size, margin of error, when and where the poll was conducted) -Asking individuals, not groups Intensity-The amount a person is for or against. Latency-Opinions that exist but not expressed. Salience-The extent to which people believe issues are relevant to them.

How do we get our political opinions and values? Political Socialization- We learn our views from: u Family u Schools u Mass Media u Religion, Ethnicity, Racial Attitudes u Beware: Not all African Americans vote Democratic nor all Catholics agree with their church’s position on Abortion. u

Stability and Change in Public Opinion u The 9/11 events had a short-term impact on public trust and confidence in government. u Public opinion can affect our policy. u Persian Gulf compared to Somalia.

Continued…. u Politicians use polls to measure the publics beliefs on certain issues, so that they can change their speeches to the hot topic of the day. u Also, where to campaign, how to campaign, and even if it all to campaign.

Class Activity in Computer Lab u Go to the lab and log onto the internet at the following site: u http: //people-press. org/typology/quiz u Once you know your Typology demographic, compare your Typology on the main issues today. u http: //people-press. org/typology/quiz/? pass

Political Participation and Voting u We will be using our text books to Read and discuss the other issues from Chap. 8