American Government and Politics Today

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1
Chapter
Six:
Public
Opinion and
Political
Socialization
Learning Objectives
2
 Define what we mean by public opinion, and
explain its uses by policymakers and interest
groups.
 Distinguish between public opinion and private
opinion.
 Describe consensus opinion and divisive
opinion and explain how these differ from nonopinion.
Learning Objectives
3
 Explain how public opinion is formed in the
United States, including political socialization
by families, education, peers, the media,
opinion leaders, and the influence of events.
 Contrast the life cycle effect with the
generational effect in explaining the influence of
political events on public opinion and behavior.
 Explain the influence of education and
occupation on voting behavior.
Learning Objectives
4
 Explain the influence of socioeconomic status.
 Explain the influence of religion, race and
ethnicity, and geographical region.
 Define and explain the impact of the gender
gap.
 Describe early opinion polls and evaluate their
primary flaw.
Learning Objectives
5
 Describe current sampling techniques,
including random sampling and quota
sampling.
 Explain problems associated with telephone
and Internet polls.
 Describe the trends in public opinion regarding
trust in government and confidence in
institutions.
 Describe some of the limits to the value of polls
to public officials when making policy decisions.
Defining Public Opinion?
6
What Is Public Opinion—
The aggregate of individual
attitudes or beliefs shared by
some portion of the adult
population.
Defining Public Opinion
7
 Types of Public Opinion
 Consensus
 Divisive
Opinion
Opinion
 Non-opinion
Defining Public Opinion
8
Defining Public Opinion
9
Defining Public Opinion
10
How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political
Socialization
11
 Sources of Political Socialization
 Family
 Education
 Peers and Peer Group
 Opinion Leaders
 Media
 Political Events
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
12
 Demographic Influences on Voting Behavior
 Education
 Economic
Status
 Religious Influence:
Denomination
 Religiosity

 Race and Ethnicity
 Gender
 Geographic Region
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
13
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
14
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
15
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
16
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
17
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
18
Political Preferences and Voting Behavior
19
 Elections: The Most Important Influences
 Party
Identification
 Perception
 Issue
of the Candidates
Preferences
Measuring Public Opinion
20
 Sampling Techniques
 Representative
sampling: The most important
principle in sampling, or poll taking, is
randomness. Every person should have a known
chance, and especially an equal chance, of
being sampled.
Measuring Public Opinion
21
 Problems with Polls
 Sampling
Error
 Polling Questions
 Push Polls
 Telephone Polling Problems
 Internet Polling
Measuring Public Opinion
22
Measuring Public Opinion
23
Measuring Public Opinion
24
Public Opinion and the Political Process
25
 Political Culture and Public Opinion
 Americans
tend to turn to government to solve
public problems.
 Government
 Public
policy tends to follow public opinion.
opinion can also limit government action.
Public Opinion and the Political Process
26
Web Links
27
 Polling Report : An up-to-date and easy-to-use
Web site that offers polls and their results
organized by topic: www.pollingreport.com.
 Real Clear Politics (RCP): Daily digest of poll
results, election analysis, and political
commentary as well as an archive of past
political polls: www.realclearpolitics.com.
What If…Young People Were Required to
Serve?
28
 Young people typically know less about politics,
express less interest in politics, and vote less
often than their elders.
 As more young voters turned out in 2008, they
have tremendous potential to shape politics
and policy if they get involved.
 Political socialization impacts people’s attitudes
toward service.
What If…Young People Were Required to
Serve?
29
 For those who support service, the benefit is a
diverse group of committed individuals
performing public work that needs doing.
 For those opposed, national service is forced
voluntarism and the compulsory nature
undermines the benefits for individuals and
communities.
You Can Make a Difference: Being a Critical
Consumer of Opinion Polls
30
 Although opinion polls tell us a variety of things,
they are not necessarily accurate.
 Pay attention only to opinion polls that are
based on scientific or random samples.
 Pay attention as well to how people were
contacted for the poll—by mail, by telephone, in
person in their homes, or in some other way
(such as via the Internet).
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