Public Opinion and
Political Socialization:
Shaping the People’s Voice
Chapter 6
Political Socialization:
The Origins of Americans’ Opinions

Public opinion: opinions of citizens that are
openly stated
 Political culture: the characteristic and deepseated beliefs of a particular people about
government and politics
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Political Socialization:
The Origins of Americans’ Opinions

Political socialization process
 Childhood
learning is paramount
 Process is cumulative: political affiliations usually
grow firmer with age
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Political Socialization:
The Origins of Americans’ Opinions

Primary political socialization agents
 Family
 Family
is the strongest of all agents of socialization
 Schools
 Church
 Scholars
have not studied the effects of religion as well
as schools or family, but it is a powerful influence
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Political Socialization:
The Origins of Americans’ Opinions

Secondary political socialization agents
 Peers
 Media
 Leaders
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Frames of Reference: How
Americans Think Politically

Frames of reference: reference points by which
individuals evaluate issues and developments
 Party identification
 Party
identification: emotional loyalty to a political
party; not formal membership
 Major shifts in loyalty rare and in younger adults
 Can lead to selective perception
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6
Partisanship and Issue Opinions
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Frames of Reference: How
Americans Think Politically

Political Ideology
A
coherent set of political beliefs
 Few Americans have true political ideology
 Ideological leanings:
 Economic
liberals/conservatives
 Social liberals/conservatives
 Populists and libertarians
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Frames of Reference: How
Americans Think Politically

Group orientations
 Religion
 Economic
class
 Region
 Race
and ethnicity
 Gender
 Generations and age
 Crosscutting cleavages
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Gender and Military Conflicts
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The Measurement of Public Opinion

The measurement of public opinion
 Traditional
method: election results
 Public opinion polls: primary method
 Measure
public opinion using randomly chosen
population sample(s) and carefully constructed
interviews
of population’s views
 Accuracy of a poll—expressed by sampling error
 Samples—estimation
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The Measurement of Public Opinion

Problems with polls
 Increasing
refusal to participate in telephone polls
 Polled individuals unfamiliar with issues
 Dishonesty by respondents
 Poorly worded questions and poor question order
 Non-opinions
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The Influence of Public Opinion
on Policy

Disagreement over how much public opinion
affects policy, and how much it should affect
policy
 Limits on public influence
 Inconsistencies in
citizens’ policy preferences
 Citizens’ lack of understanding of issues
 Mastery
of issues not necessary for opinion to be of
value, but some issues require understanding
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The Influence of Public Opinion
on Policy

Public opinion and the boundaries of action
 Some
policy actions outside boundaries of public
acceptability
 Greater the level of public involvement, the more
likely officials will respond to public sentiment
 Even on popular issues, leaders have some
discretion
 Leaders can influence public opinion through
concerted effort
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