Death Penalty
• The death penalty is very popular in the
U.S. thought it is outlawed in two-thirds of
the world’s countries including every
Western democracy
Public Opinion.
Collective attitude of the citizens on a given issue or question
Characteristics of Public Opinion
1. The public’s attitude toward a given government
policy can vary over time
2. Public opinion places boundaries on allowable
types of public policy (beheading is not ok)
3. If asked, citizens will register an opinion outside
of their expertise
4. Governments ten to respond to public opinion
5. The government sometimes does not do what
people want
Public Opinion and the Models of
Democracy
Majoritarian
• The government should do what
a majority of people wants
• Assumes a majority of people
hold clear, consistent opinions on
government policy
 Because government policy
sometimes runs against majority
opinion, it’s easy to attack this
model as a description of reality
Pluralist
• Framers didn’t want a government
totally responsive to majority
opinion. Didn’t trust the public to
make public policy
• Public rarely has clear, consistent
opinions on day-to-day government
• Believes the public is often
uninformed and ambivalent about
specific issues
Sample Accuracy…
Is determined by 3 things:
1. How the sample is selected. For maximum
accuracy, the sample must be selected
randomly.
2. The larger the sample is, the more accurately
it represents the population
3. The amount of variation in the population. If
there were no variation, every sample would
be perfectly accurate
Distribution of Public Opinion
Mode: Most frequent response
Stable distribution: shows little change over
time.
• SKEWED: An asymetrical but generally bellshaped distribution (of opinions). The most
common response lies off to one side
Bimodal Distribution
A distribution (of opinions) that shows two responses being chosen
about as frequently as one another
Normal Distribution
• A symmetrical bell-shaped distribution (of
opinions) centered on a single mode, or most
frequent response
What distribution do our test scores
resemble?
Exam #1 Grades
12
10
8
6
Exam #1 Grades
4
2
0
A
B
C
D
F
Interesting Facts
• Historically, the ideological distribution of the
public has been skewed toward conservatism
in every presidential election since 1964
• In 1958 only 4% of Americans approved of
interracial marriage. By 2007 77% approved.
Political Socialization
• Complex process by which people acquire
their political values
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdJ2URru0Lw
Principles that Characterize Early Learning
• Primacy Principle: What is learned first is
learned best
• Structuring Principle: What is learned first
structures later learning
• The extent of the influence of any socializing
agent depends on the extent of our exposure
to it, our communication with it and our
receptivity to it
Family
• In most cases, exposure, communication and
receptivity are highest in parent-child relationships.
• Children learn a wide range of social, moral,
religious, economic and political values
from
parents
• Party identification starts with imitation, however
this doesn’t always follow directly because parents
are less deliberate about exposing their children to
political parties and political parties themselves
don’t actively socialize kids (Sunday school model)
School
• Elementary schools prepare children to accept
the social order. Students also take part in
political rituals.
• High schools work to build “good citizens,” asking
students to think critically about American
government and politics while teaching civic
responsibility
• Colleges teach courses that stimulate critical
thinking for students, asking them to hone and
question their own values
Community & Peers
• Community: People of all ages with whom you
come in contact because they live or work near
you
• Peers: friends, classmates and coworkers
• Homogenous communities can exert strong
pressures on both children and adults to conform
to the dominant attitude
Continuing
Socialization
• As parental and school influences wane into
adulthood, peer groups assume a greater
importance in promoting political awareness
and developing political opinions
• Values change, reflecting self-interest, as
voters age. People become more supportive of
Social Security spending (out of self-interest)
and more likely to continue voting (out of
habit)
Social Groups and Political Values
• People with similar backgrounds share similar
experiences and tend to develop similar
political opinions.
• Sharp differences in attitudes based on
education, income, region, race, religion and
sex.
Education
• Higher education promotes tolerance of
unpopular opinions and behavior and invites
citizens to see issues in terms of civil rights
and liberties. People with more education are
more aware of political issues.
• When confronted with the order vs. freedom
debate, college-educated individuals often
choose freedom
Income
• In many countries, differences in social class
based on social background and occupation
divide people’s politics
• Wealth is linked to opinions favoring a limited
government role in promoting equality
• Groups with higher education and income
favor freedom over order
Region
• In recent decades, the movement of people
and wealth away from the Northeast and
Midwest to the Sunbelt states in the South
and Southwest has equalized per capita
income of various regions
Race & Ethnicity
• During the early 1900’s immigrants formed a base
of the Democratic Party
• African Americans are more likely to identify with
the Democratic party. In the 2008 election, 95% of
African Americans voted for Obama.
• At the national level, Latinos have lagged behind
African Americans in mobilizing and gaining
political office
Issues of Equality…
Members of minority groups display somewhat
similar political attitudes on issues of equality
1. Racial minorities (except 2nd generation Asian
immigrants) tend to have low socioeconomic
status (position in society based on
education, occupational status and income)
2. Minorities have been targets of prejudice and
discrimination and have benefited from
government actions in support of equality
Religion & Gender
• Religious beliefs can influence the way people
feel about social order (the abortion debate)
• Gender impacts political beliefs. Women
frequently are more supportive of men of
affirmative action and government spending
on on social programs and are less supportive
of the death penalty
Presidential Opinion Polling
http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/
170917611.html
Study the polls around the room and complete
the information sheet with your group
members.
From Values to Ideology
• Most voters tend not to use ideological concepts
when discussing politics. The tendency to use
ideological terms in discussing politics grows with
increased education.
• Liberals support economic intervention to
promote economic equality while conservatives
favor less government intervention and more
individual freedom in economic activities
In short…
• Liberals support equality over freedom, but
oppose surrendering freedom for order
• Conservatives do not necessarily oppose
equality but put a higher value on freedom
than on equality. Conservatives are not above
restricting freedom when threatened with the
loss of order
Ideological Types in the U.S.
• One reason so many Americans classify themselves as
conservative on a one-dimensional scale is that they
have no option to classify themselves as libertarian.
• Communitarians are prominent among blacks and
Latinos and among people with no high school degree,
people who look favorably on the benefits of
government
• Many people define themselves as moderate because
they are liberal on some issues and conservative on
others
Political Knowledge
“In particular, women, African Americans, the poor and
the young tend to be substantially less knowledgeable
about politics than are men, whites, the affluent and
older citizens.”
–Delli Carpini and Keeter
Self-Interest Principle
• People choose what benefits them personally
Issue framing
• The way that politicians or interest group
leaders define an issue when presenting it to
others
• Reduction in taxes– “Returning money to
people” versus “reducing government
services”
• SPIN– the framing of issues by politicians and
the media