CHAPTER 10
Public Opinion
Learning Objectives
 Appraise the theoretically important role that
public opinion plays in American democracy
and the tactical function public opinion plays
in the policymaking process
 Compare and contrast the different ways in
which public opinion may be expressed,
including public opinion polls, rallies and
protests, blogging, voting, and contributing
time and money to campaigns
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Learning Objectives
 Distinguish between the different levels of
public opinion, from broad values and
beliefs, to partisan and ideological
orientations, to attitudes and opinions on
specific items
 Assess the mass public’s level of
knowledge about American politics and the
capacity of the public to contribute to the
political process
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Learning Objectives
 Assess the political socialization process
and identify the important factors (such as
the family, schools, friends, religion) that
contribute to the development of political
opinions
 Differentiate between a scientific poll and
an unscientific poll
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Learning Objectives
 Apply the criteria for asking unbiased poll
questions
 Analyze the findings from a poll along the
dimensions of direction, intensity, and
stability of public opinion
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Public Opinion in American Politics
 Democracy
 “Rule by the people”
 Opinions of public always recognized as important
 Public Opinion
 Scholars: the summation of individual opinions on
any particular issue or topic
 Political scientists: those opinions held by private
persons which government finds it prudent to heed
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Protesters in Washington, D.C.
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How is Public Opinion Expressed?
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Public opinion polls and voting
Political rallies and protest rallies
Money, time, and effort
News media
Direct contact via email, mail, or phone
Blogs
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How is Public Opinion Expressed
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The Levels of Public Opinion
 Three basic levels
 Broad level of values
and beliefs
 Intermediate level of
political orientations
 Specific level of
preferences about
particular topics
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The Levels of Public Opinion
 Values and Beliefs
 Values: broad principles which most citizens
support and adhere
 Beliefs: facts derived from values
 Liberty
 Equality
 Individualism
 Rule of law
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The Levels of Public Opinion
 Political Orientations
 Translation of values and beliefs into a systematic
way of assessing the political environment
 Partisanship
 Political ideology
 Liberal
 Conservative
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Partisanship in America
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The Levels of Public Opinion
 Political Preferences
 Attitudes regarding
 Performance of political leaders and institutions
 Candidate preferences
 Specific policy issues
 Confidence in president and federal institutions
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Preferences of Americans
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How Informed is Public Opinion?
 Studies indicate that the American public is
uninformed about politics
 Public’s interest in politics is low
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American Lack of
Political Knowledge
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How Does Public Opinion Form?
 Political socialization
 Lifelong process by which an individual acquires
values, beliefs, and opinions about politics
 Primacy tendency
 Impressions/information acquired while younger are
most influential and longest lasting
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How Does Public Opinion Form?
 Agents of political socialization
 Demographic factors
 Family
 Friends and peers
 Schools
 Media
 Religion
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Public opinion poll
 Measures opinions of a large group of people by
 Selecting a subset
 Asking questions
 Generalizing the findings to the larger group
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 The History of Political Polling
 Straw poll: gathers opinions of people conveniently
available in a particular place
 Faulty assumption: the greater the number of
respondents, the more accurate the poll
 Immediate predecessor to modern scientific polling
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Accuracy of the Gallup Poll in
Predicting Voter Behavior
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Scientific Sampling
 Uses probability theory
as a guide to selecting
people from the
population
 Random selection of
respondents
 Everyone has the
same chance of being
selected
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Unscientific Polls
 Sample is not
representative of
any group beyond
those who register
their opinion
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Examples of unscientific polls
 Log-in polls
 SLOPs: self-selected listener opinion polls
 CRAPs: computerized response audience polling
 Intercept polls
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Pseudo-Polls
 Disguised as pollsters to plant messages and raise
funds
 Push poll
 Sample Size
 Sampling error
 The larger the sample size, the less sampling error
 Law of diminishing returns
 Nonresponse
 Random-digit dialing
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How is Public Opinion Measured?
 Asking Questions on Polls
 Wording of a question can impact the answer
 Good poll questions
 Avoid double negatives
 Keep the question simple
 Don’t include a question within a question
 Don’t use leading questions
 Don’t expect honest answers to socially
unacceptable response questions
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Interpreting Public Opinion Data
 Three important characteristics of public
opinion data
 Direction
 Intensity
 Continuity
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Attitudes About TV Tobacco
Advertising
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Changes in Attitudes About the
Environment
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