Political
Beliefs &
Behaviors
Public Opinion
• Definition: how people think or feel about
particular things
– Issues
– Candidates
– Political institutions
• Encompasses attitudes of millions of diverse
people
– Racial, ethnic, age, regional groups
– Makes studying American public opinion very
complex
• Public opinion must reach & become part
of the political process in a democracy
Measuring Public Opinion
• Involves careful interviewing
procedures & question wording
– Loaded or emotional words should
be avoided
– Pollster should not indicate what
the “right” answer is
• Polls – surveys of public opinion – must be
carefully executed to reflect public opinion
– Random Sample – selecting from a population in
which each person has equal probability of being
selected
– Sampling error – difference between results of
random samples taken at the same time
– Exit polls – polls based on interviews conducted on
Election Day with randomly selected voters
Public Opinion Polling
• Developed by George Gallup in
1932
– Founded a firm in Princeton, NJ that
spread throughout the democratic
world
• Polling conducted by private firms,
TV networks, magazines,
newspapers, etc.
• Pollsters also hired by political
candidates to measure popularity &
direct political campaigns
• Begin when someone wants a
question answered
•
Factors that
Influence Political
Attitudes
Group identifications often
influence political attitudes
• Attitudes shaped by political socialization,
a lifelong process of acquiring opinions
through contact with family, friends,
coworkers, the media, or other groups
• Family, gender, religion, education, social
class, race, ethnicity, and region contribute
to political attitudes & behavior
• Family
Factors Influencing
Attitudes
– Probably most important source of political socialization
– Influences party identification: majority of young people identify with
parents’ political party
– Lower correlation today than in the past
– Growing number of “independents” rather than Republicans or
Democrats
– If family is more politically active, you are likely to hold the same beliefs
• Gender
– Gender Gap – difference in political views between men and women
– Specific issues
• Consider sexual harassment more serious than do men
• More men support military actions than women
– Party identification affected, but relationships have shifted through the
years
• Women first more likely to support Republican party than men
• Reversed in the 1960s when women became more likely to vote Democrat than
men
• No clear correlation for women supporting female candidates
Factors Influencing
Attitude
• Married VS Unmarried
– Single more likely to vote for Democratic candidates
– Married more likely to support Republicans
• Religion
– Relationships not as strong as they once were
– Protestants more conservative on economic matters
than Catholics and Jews
– Jews more liberal on economic & social issues than
Catholics & Protestants
– Catholics more liberal on economic issues than on social
issues
– Christians tend to have conservative views on social
issues like abortion, civil rights for minorities, and women’s
rights (but not necessarily foreign affairs or economic
issues)
– Church-goers more likely to vote for Republicans and
non-Church goers for Democrats
Factors Influencing
Attitude
• Education
– Higher educational level  conservative
political points of view
– College education often influences
individuals to have more liberal social &
economic attitudes
• Social Class
– Less clear relationship than before, but:
higher social class, more conservative &
likely to be Republican
•
Factors Influencing
Race & Ethnicity Attitudes
– African Americans more likely to identify with
Democratic Party & be more liberal
– Hispanic Americans also likely to be liberal
Democrats
– Asian Americans also likely to vote Democrat
• Less research than on other groups
• Attitudes vary by nationality
• Geographic Region
– People on either coast more liberal than those in the
middle of the country
– Urban/rural differentiation: coastal cities inhabited
by minorities, immigrants, and members of labor
unions
– From Reconstruction-1950s, the Solid South voted
Democratic, but more have become affiliated with
Republican Party since then
Cleavages in Public
Opinion
• Smaller groups exist within society
• We can predict how most people within a category –
cleavage – will view issues
• Demographics – study of characteristics of populations
– Examples: women, men, African Americans, Catholics,
Young Adults, College Educated
– Socioeconomic Status – division of the population based
on occupation, income, and education
– Race – grouping of human beings with distinctive
characteristics determined by genetics
• Examples: Black, Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian
• Often distinguishable by appearance
– Ethnicity – Social division based on national origin, religion,
language, and shared culture
• Examples: Jewish, Polish, Han Chinese, Navajo
• Emphasize the culture
•
Types of Cleavages in
Social class (SES)Public Opinion
– Occupation depends more on schooling, so upper-class exposed to
liberal views
– Non-economic issues now define liberal & conservative
• Race & ethnicity
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Becoming more important in non-racial matters
Blacks most consistently liberal group within Democratic Party
Hispanic & Asian Americans less liberal, but still liberal
Whites fairly evenly divided within political spectrum
• Region
– Southerners & mountain westerners more conservative than northerners &
west coasters regarding military & civil rights issues
– Southerners more accommodating of business
• Prevailing issues
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Social security
Abortion
War on Terror
Environment
Welfare
Healthcare
Immigration
Types of Cleavages
• Reinforcing Cleavage – divisions within society that reinforce one
another, making groups more homogenous
– A person’s background puts him in the same camp with the same
friends over all or most issues
– Strengthen political differences
– Reduces incentive to compromise
– May lead to violence
– Makes democracy difficult
– Often race-based on the US
• Black, urban, poor
• Hispanic, rural farm-working poor
• Cross-Cutting Cleavage – divisions that cut across demographic
categories to produce groups that are more heterogeneous
– A person’s background puts him in different camps depending on the
issues
– Tempers conflict
– Engenders compromise
– Enables stable democratic decision-making
– Common in US & most industrial societies
Discussion Topics
• Why might people of similar
background share opinions on
controversial issues?
• What issues are prevalent in politics
today & how do citizens of
Hackettstown feel about them?
Political Beliefs
• Beliefs that citizens hold about
government and its leaders
• Different from political ideology – a
coherent set of values & beliefs about
public policy
Political Culture
• Definition: common set of beliefs & attitudes
about government and politics
• American Democratic Values
– United under common political culture
– Consensus of basic concepts that support
democracy
•
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Majority rule & minority rights
Equality
Private property
Individual freedoms
Compromise
Limited government
– Americans tend to be more nationalistic, optimistic,
and idealistic than people in other countries
Core Values
• Liberty – freedom to do as you please
• Equality – equal opportunity & treatment
before the law
• Individualism – importance & dignity of the
individual
• Democracy – government based on consent
of the people
• Rule of Law – necessary to have body of law
applied equally, impartially, and justly
• Civic Duty – sense of community & individual
responsibility to support community efforts
•
Changing
Values
Economic changes spurred by the Industrial Revolution
altered American values
– Capitalism – wealth based on money & capital goods –
added to wealth based on land ownership
– Free Enterprise – economic competition without restraint
from government
• In 1930s, Great Depression brought trouble & the New
Deal was an affirmation of gov’t responsibility for welfare
of its people
– Promotion of General Welfare
• Political tolerance – reasonable tolerance of other
opinions & actions
– Believe in freedom of speech, religion, & petition at least in
the abstract
– People are not as tolerant as they proclaim to be
– Becoming more tolerant over past few decades
– Most people dislike another group strongly enough to deny it
political rights, but not always inclined to act on those beliefs
(Neo-Nazis, LGBT, black militants)
Our Political Culture
• Mistrust of the government
– Trust in gov’t and its officials has declined since
mid-1960s
• Vietnam War
• Watergate
• Continued since
• Drop in political efficacy – capacity to
understand & influence political events
– Internal Efficacy – ability to understand & take
part in political affairs
– External Efficacy – belief of the individual that the
government will respond to his personal needs or
beliefs
Culture Wars
• Two cultural camps in constant
combat with one another
• Some believe the US is subject
to relatively unchanging
standards that are relatively
clear: belief in God, laws of
nature, US as a force of good in
the world
• Others emphasize legitimate
alternatives to those standards
and that the US has had a
negative effect on world affairs
Journal Entry
• Do you feel the Core American Values
are still relevant today?
– Liberty, Equality, Individualism, Democracy,
Capitalism, Individualism, Rule of Law, & Civic
Duty
• Which ones are the most prominent in our
society?
• Which ones are not that important
anymore?
• Are there any values you think we should
add?
Political Socialization
• Agents of Socialization
– Family
– Schools
– Peers
– Mass Media
– Religion
• Teach you how to live in society
• Shape beliefs & values
Family
• Families are primary agents of socialization
• Most children adopt political views of parents
• Transfer of political beliefs from one generation to the next
– Not always a discussion at the dinner table, but can be!
• Is it genetic?
– Identical twins are more likely to share similar political views than fraternal
twins
– Roughly 1/3 of differences among people about political beliefs comes
from genetic makeup
– 1/10 of differences come from family influences
– Half of our political views come from family & half from life experiences
• Beliefs aren’t the same as party affiliation
– Can be a liberal Republican or conservative Democrat
– Party affiliation dependent on what we learn from parents
• Party affiliation declining
– Ability of family to instill a strong sense of party affiliation has declined in
recent years
– Younger voters have weaker sense of partisanship than older voters
– Age-related differences in opinions on issues that break ideological molds
(gay marriage, women’s rights, etc.)
Religion
• Also linked to family
• Religious differences make for political
differences
– More complicated than at first glance
– Usually social issues: abortion, gay
marriage, LGBT Rights, war
• Opinions vary within given religious
traditions
School
• Primary school includes indoctrination
– What it means to be an American
– Patriotism
– Teach political involvement (voting, protest, etc.)
• Later grades give opportunity for questioning
society, politics, government, the status quo…
• Encounter more controversial vies in & out of
the classroom in college
– May resonate or challenge existing views
– Opportunities to participate in politics on campus
Peers & Community
• Teenagers: peer pressure is less evident
in developing political values
– Unless it directly affects you, like a war
draft or minimum wage
• Later on, peers are often in your same
occupation
– Professionals like teachers or doctors often
have similar political opinions on matters
related to their careers
Mass Media
• TV shows, news reports, magazines, celebrities,
Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Instagram accounts –
they all shape your political opinion!
• Provide information about relevant issues: drugs,
abortion, crime, war, etc.
– It all has some bias
– Leads to political discussion
– You shape opinions based on the information & how it is
presented & sometimes who supports the same idea
• You are also biased in your interpretation of information
– Selection Bias – read or watch sources that reinforce your
own views
– Perception Bias – miss or ignore contradictions to your
views
Components of Political
Opinions
• Once you have a political opinion, it will have 4
components
• Direction – pro or con
• Degree – strongly or mildly for or against
• Salience – how the issue affects your life directly
• Intensity – degree of commitment (what will you
do as a result? Vote, write letters, protest, get
arrested?)
• Example: A vegan with an organic farm would
have a very strong opinion in support of legislation
that limits GMOs. That issue is salient to the farmer
and depending on the person, she may protest
GMOs to get her point across.
Political Ideology
• Definition: Consistent set of beliefs about what policies
governments ought to pursue
• Measured in two ways
– How frequently people use broad political categories (liberal,
conservative, or radical) to describe views or justify preferences
– Consistency of a citizen’s preferences over time or if based on
consistent principles at any one time
• How accurately can you predict a person’s view on a topic
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Moderates are largest group among American voters
Conservatives are second largest
Liberals are smallest
Self-identification surveys don’t tell us how or whether most
people think about politics in an ideological manner
– Don’t feel need to be “consistent”
– Ask variety of questions & fit into series of categories
Political Spectrum
Liberals & Conservatives
• Terms’ meanings have changed over time
– Liberals disapproved of strong central government
– Conservatives believed government was best left to political elites
– Reversed in 1930s with New Deal
• Terms do capture views held by many people in the political
elite
– Often refers to activists in the US
– Greater consistency among political elites for several reasons
• More information  more interest in politics  more consistency
• More active  more association with people who agree with you & start
matching their views on other topics
– Elites raise & frame political issues in the media (environmentalism,
problems abroad, etc.)
– Sate norms by which issues should be settled (AIDS example: fear
 support)
• See Liberals & Conservatives Chart
Political SPectrum