AP Gov—10/7/2015
 Please turn your KBAT’s in up front. I’ll keep them
overnight and get them back to you
 Debrief Federalism test
 SCOTUS’s new term
 Begin Political Beliefs & Behaviors Unit
 Homework:
 Edwards pgs. 20-24, 190-202 (Friday)
 Political ideology quiz—please have a parent take it also.
Come to class with your data points
POLITICAL BELIEFS &
BEHAVIORS
Political Ideology & the Media
Units of Study
I. Constitutional Underpinnings of U.S.
Government (5-15%)
II. Political Beliefs and Behaviors (10-20%)
III. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass
Media (10-20%)
IV. Institutions of National Government: The
Congress, the Presidency, the
Bureaucracy, and the Federal Courts (3545%)
V. Public Policy (5-15%)
VI. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (5-15%)
Reading Schedule
 Edwards:
 Pgs. 20-24
 Chapter 6
• Pgs. 190-202
• Pgs. 202-210
• Pgs. 210-220
 Plus expect more supplemental readings
Warm Up
 What is American political culture?
 Are there universally shared values? If so, what
are they?
Political Culture
A. Definition: widely shared beliefs, values, and
norms that citizen share about their gov’t
B. Characteristics:
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Liberty
Individualism
Equality
Democracy
Civic duty
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Distrust of gov’t
Political efficacy
Political tolerance
Pragmatism
Justice
Ideology & public policy
Background
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Ideology: integrated set of beliefs and values that shape
a person’s views
Smaller percentage of ideologues in a two party system
Ideology & public policy
A. Liberalism
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Classical liberalism of the 18th century
Modern liberalism of the 20th century (New Deal liberalism)
Backlash against liberalism
“Neoliberals”
B. Conservatism
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Essentially classical liberalism
Resurgence since late 1970s
“Neoconservatives” and the New Right
“Compassionate conservatism”
C. Socialism
D. Libertarianism
Consistency?
 Not many people are purely ideological, and
neither are candidates
 Very few see themselves as extremists
 They national ideological map has been relatively
consistent
 Ideology simplifies our choices of candidates
Tomorrow
 How do we socialize?
 For tonight…take the political ideology test and
come with your score tomorrow. They will be
submitted anonymously
 Also, have a parent or both take it!
AP Gov—10/8/2015
 Grab your KBAT notebook from the back
 Political ideology quiz scores
 Political socialization
 What role should schools play in instilling American
culture/values?
 Homework:
 Edwards pgs. 20-24, 190-202 (Friday)
 Read “American Exceptionalism” article on blog for
tomorrow
Warm up
 What were the 4 ideologies we discussed
yesterday?
 What is the basic tenant/ big idea of each?
 Are there any ties that connect all 4 ideologies?
Political Socialization
Political Beliefs & Behaviors Unit
Quiz Results
 Write down your score and your parent(s)
 Anonymous
Political socialization
 Definition: process in which people acquire their
political beliefs
 Agents
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Family
Schools
Religion
Race
Income
Opinion leaders
Mass media
Gender
Family
 Are you the same party affiliation of your parents?
 Has one parent had a stronger influence than the
other?
Family
 STRONGEST
 Correlation between parents and child
 Fairly equal influence of mother and father
Schools
 Impart basic values (civic duty, patriotism)
 High school gov’t classes?
 College students?
Religion
 Protestant:
 Generally more conservative
 Evangelicals
 Catholic:
 Traditionally more liberal, but leaning more conservative
 Clinton/Bush/Obama
 Jewish:
 Liberal influence, strong support of Democratic Party
Race
 Whites: more conservative, greater support for R’s
 Blacks: more liberal, strongest supporters of D’s
 90% democratic in recent elections
 Hispanics:
 Mexican-Americans & Puerto Ricans more liberal
 Cubans more conservative
 George W. won 44% of Hispanic vote
 Asians: won by Dems. In ‘00/’04/’08
Income
 Higher: conservative, R
 Lower: liberal, D
Gender
 “Year of the Women”
 Appeal to “soccer moms”
 Gender-sensitive issues
 Gender gap in recent elections
 “NASCAR Dads”
Cross Pressure
 Conflicting elements of one’s own political
socialization
AP Gov—10/9/2015
 Quick current events
 Continue discussion on schools and socialization
 American exceptionalism
 How does it fit into socialization?
 Homework:
 Edwards pgs. 210-214
 The new democratic & republican “herds”. Read
article/watch video and write a summary paragraph for
each. (details on blog, due Tuesday)
 Current events (Tues)
 Unit 2 KBATs are on website
Warm up
 Explain 3 agents of socialization and the
ideological trends for the group.
 Explain cross pressure.
Schools and socialization
 What role should schools play when it comes to
the socialization of American culture/values?
 ½ read article about USC professors, other ½ will
read about why conservatives are angry about the
APUSH re-design
 Then we will watch some recent news stories
about socialization gone bad. When does it turn
into indoctrination?
What is American
Exceptionalsim?
 Refers to the theory that the US is qualitatively
different from other states
 Although the term doesn’t imply superiority, many
neoconservatives have promoted its use in that
sense
 Scholars on the left have rejected American
exceptionalism arguing that the US hasn’t broken
from European history and still has class inequality,
imperialism, and war
American Exceptionalism
 1) How does political ideology affect ones stance
on exceptionalism?
 2) How does American exceptionalism fit with our
discussion of schools as an agent of socialization?
 3) What is your opinion on American
exceptionalism? Should it be challenged or
celebrated?
AP Gov—10/13/2015
 Grab a polling analysis worksheet from the back.
Please have out your Democrat/Republican herds
 Current Events
 Public opinion & polling
 Homework:
 Edwards pg. 202-210
 Read “Making the Call” and “A Question of What to Ask”
+ answer questions (Thursday)
 Watch the debate! 5:30 on CNN
Public Opinion
Political Beliefs & Behaviors
Types of publics
 Elites
 Those with disproportionate amount of political resources
 Attentive
 Those with an active interest in gov’t
 Mass
 Those with little interest in gov’t
Types of opinions
 Stable: change very little
 Fluid: change frequently
 Latent: dormant, but may be aroused
 Intense
 Nonintense
 Salient: has some personal importance
 Consensus: shared by 75% or more
 Polarized: shared by less than 75%
Measurement of public opinion
 By elections
 By straw
 By scientific polls
Public opinion polls
 Aim to understand the distribution of the
population’s belief about politics and policy issues
Construction of polls
 Define the “universe”: population to be measured
 Selection of sampling
 Writing the questions—avoiding bias
 Affordable Care Act versus Obamacare
 Select means of polling
Uses of polls
 Inform the public
 Inform candidates
 Inform office holders
 Election night predictions via exit polls
 But, beware of exit polls!
Video Clip
 What was wrong with Mr. Perot's poll?
 What would he have needed to do to create a
better poll?
 What kinds of things should we, as consumers of
polls, know about polling in order to evaluate their
accuracy?
AP Gov—10/15/2015
 FRQ’s
 Debate debrief
 Public opinion poll analysis
 Have out worksheet from Tues.
 Homework:
 Edwards pg. 224-242
 Start “Media Project”
 Be working on your KBAT’s—Ch. 6-7 test will be at the
end of next week!
Debate questions
1. How did the topics at the Dem. debate compare
2.
3.
4.
5.
to those asked at the Republican debate?
In what ways was “political ideology” at the
forefront of the debate? Were candidates
embracing or shying away from ideology?
What was your opinion on the moderator? Fair?
Biased?
Did you watch any media coverage after the
debate? What were the sound
bites/gaffes/successes they were discussing
Who “won” the debate?
Public Opinion Polling
Trends & Cleavages
The Gender Gap: Differences in Political
Views of Men and Women
Generational Gaps on the Issues
Survey by Washington Post/Henry J. Kaiser Foundation/Harvard University, August 2-September 1, 2002, as reported in
Elizabeth Hamel et al., "Younger Voters," Public Perspective, May/June 2003, p. 11.
Religion and public opinion
President Bush's Approval Ratings
www.pollingreport.com
Poll Analysis