American Govt. Chapter 5

Public Opinion & political participation

Objectives

Role of public opinion in policy making

Process of political socialization

Agents of political socialization

Survey research and other methods

Political knowledge

Politics and Public Opinion

Public Opinion

Ø a) Is what the people think about an issue or set of

issues at any given point in time and opinions are

normally measured by opinion polls. OR

Ø b) Is the combined personal opinion of adults towards

issues of relevance to govt.

Ø c) major shifts in public opinion generally translate into policy change.

Ø though few Americans regularly think about politics, public opinion

is the foundation of our democracy:-

Ø because American democracy rests on the consent of the governed.

Ø however, elected representatives do not necessarily have to conform to

public opinion in performance of their elected duties.

Ø but a politician’s “independent judgment” is more likely

influenced in part by public opinion.

Early efforts to measure public opinion

à started in the 1930s.

à Literary Digest magazine using straw polls correctly

predicted presidential elections between 1920-1932

à Straw polls à are unscientific surveys (non-random) used

to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies

How do people acquire their political opinions?

Ø through political socialization à a process whereby individuals

acquire political knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs

Ø political socialization is a life long process.

Agents of political socialization

n family background determines

àinterest & involvement in politics

àlevel of political participation

àpolitical affiliation (D or R)

n schools

à an important agent of socialization

à school teaches patriotism, singing the national item,

power structure during social studies.

à schools therefore provide factual basis for understanding government.

à schools also aid in creation of good citizenship.

à research shows that college bound students are more

active in politics than just high school graduates.

à college also tends to loosen political views from

that of the parents.

n Religious institutions

àResearch shows that religious service attendance

is positively related to political participation

à white Protestants hold more conservative views

on (abortion, public school prayers, gay rights)

n Peer Groups

à are more important in shaping issue positions of

young people than parents

àpeer group is most influential in middle & high school

n Mass media & socialization

àmass media esp. TV news stories influence the priorities

Americans assign to various national problems

àmedia help to set policy agenda but political

leaders often set the agenda for the media

n Dramatic events & socialization

à dramatic events attract media thereby

attracting people and influencing opinion.

n Generational effects

à are historical events that affect the views of those

who lived through them

(people who live through the Great Depression

are more supportive of income security programs

---- SS, medicare, medicaid) than young people who

did not live through the Great Depreseion.

· Life-cycle effects

à is that peoples views change with age

(younger people change from idealistic to conservative with age)

· Social groups àsuch as: religious affiliation, education, race,

and income membership tends to affect political beliefs and opinion.

Measuring public opinion

n Survey Research àis used by scholars to study

Political knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs

n Market surveys àis used to assess public taste

n Political polls à are used by politicians to plan campaign strategy

(Gallop, Roper, CBS, NBC, CNN)

n polls can often times (mislead, distort, and have little political impact)

Different Types of Polls

telephone is most common form of taking polls.

tracking pollsàare taken every 24 hours to chart the rise

and fall in popularity of political parties and candidates.

Straw polls àunscientific surveys (non-random) used to

gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies

push polls àare for the purpose of providing information on an

opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate

exit polls àare conducted at polling places on Election Day

to predict the outcome of an election.

Sampling method of Survey àthe goal is to select a sample out of your

population or universe, use their opinion on an issue to generalize what the

whole population responce would have been if all the population where questioned.

à therefore in a survey research, one can accurately measure

the characteristics of a universe/population by examining a small sample

n Universe àis the population being measured

n Sample àsubset of a universe/population the scholars actually surveyed

àsince a sample must be representative of the universe for it to be accurate,

therefore select your sample in a random fashion.

n Random sample à is used to ensure that the group of individuals actually

surveyed are representative of the larger population.

n Biased sample à is an unrepresentative sample

Stratified or Cluster sampling àis used by reputable survey researchers

(CNN, ABC, etc,. and is the best method of selecting polling sample.

à Stratified technique is used for taking a sample in stages.

à 1st the country is divided into: à geographic regions,

à 2nd then the researcher randomly selects counties from the geographic regions;
à 3rd the researcher randomly selects tracts of land from the counties.

à 4th the researcher randomly selects a house from each tracks of land.

à a voter from each house is asked, if presidential election was held that day,

which candidate will the voter vote for.

Interpreting a poll à Margin of error

Margin of error is used to interpret a poll

Ø e.g. a national poll predict that Mr. A will win the next

presidential election by 57% and the margin

of error is +/-3%

54% = 3% - 57% + 3% = 60%

Problems facing survey researchers

Ø Question wording

àStraight questions provide straight answers

Ø Attitudes & non-attitudes of respondents

àrespondents don’t want to appear ignorant

thereby providing answers to questions

they have thought little about (Halo effect)

Ø Interviewer-Respondent Interaction

àis when responses could be shaped

by the characteristics of the interviewer

àrace or gender of an interviewer can

sometimes affect poll results (halo effect)

Ø Timing

à very critical because opinion changes

within 24 hrs. especially in presidential elections

à take polls very close to election time

The content of public opinion

Ø American fall into 3 groups when it comes to public opinion.

· The indifferent à no opinion (young, low education,)

· Vague opinions à majority of the public

· Political elites à attentive public on any issue (educated, older,

wealthier)

the indifferent political elites, or the attentive public

young, educated,

low education, older,

poor wealthier

Don't vote do vote

Political knowledge

Ø most Americans are poorly informed about politics and govt.

Ø some groups of Americans are

more informed than others when it comes to politics

· men tend to be more knowledgeable than women about politics

· whites are better informed than blacks about politics

· people with formal education are better informed --politics

· political ignorance is widespread among young adults

Opinion on gender related issues

Ø according to survey research, both

men & women believe equally that:

· abortion should be legal

· women have done a better job taking care of home

· leave running the country to men

· married women should be able to work

men are more:

· likely to support use of force

· support death penalty

· own guns

· likely to be Republicans

women are more likely:

· to be in favor of police permit before owning a gun

· to be compassionate

· to vote Democratic party

Ideology and opinion

· more Americans today call themselves moderate

than call themselves liberals or conservatives

· Conservatives hold more traditional social views on:

Abortion; homosexuality, prayers in schools, pornography

· Liberals want to use govt. efforts to reduce income inequalities,

improve life for women and minority positions

· Blacks are more liberal than white

· Whites are less supportive of Civil rights for Blacks

· Hispanics are more conservative on the issue of role for women

Religion àCatholics & Jews are more liberal than Protestants

GenerationàYounger Americans are more liberal than older Americans

Region

· People from the east or west coast are more liberal

than people from southern & mid-western areas

Political knowledge and Democracy

Ø most Americans are poorly informed

about politics and govt.

What are the effects of this poor political knowledge?

· poor political knowledge only translates into

endorsing democratic principles

in the abstract rather than in applications

Ø that means there is a high level of intolerance

toward persons with unpopular views

· but democracy has survived in the country because

the elites support for democratic principle is stronger

and Americans follow their elites.

Political trust, political legitimacy, and efficacy

Trust àresearch data shows that public trust in

politicians and govt. is low

àbut most Americans grant political legitimacy to the govt.

àLegitimacy is the popular acceptance of a govt. and its officials

as rightful authorities in the exercise of power.

àwhen a govt. is granted political legitimacy the citizens:

1. pay taxes willingly

2. obey laws

3. peacefully seek political change thru. electoral process

Political efficacy

Ø is the extent to which people believe they can affect the policy making process

Ø there is both internal political efficacy and external political efficacy.

internal political efficacy àmeasures (self confidence)

à internal political efficacy is rising because most American believe in

their ability to influence policy because Americans are better educated

external political efficacy àmeasures (confidence in government)

à external political efficacy is falling because most Americans

believe govt. will not respond to their demands.

effects of public opinion on public policy depends on:

· the size of attentive public on issues

· how influential the attentive public is

· how strongly felt public opinion is on that issue

K. Ituah