: Opinions, Interests, and Organizations

 How people feel about different things Abortion is bad Abortion is good Gun control is bad Gun control is good Same sex marriage is bad Same sex marriage is good Welfare is bad Welfare is good A bigger military is bad A bigger military is good

 There are many shifting publics! Abortion Gun control Same sex marriage Welfare

 Is poorly informed about government  Doesn’t care about MOST public policy positions  But, it good at using cues which favor the positions they do care about when supporting or opposing:  Policies  Parties  Candidates

 Did not want the government OVERLY responsive (reactive) to public opinion  Wanted the government keeping an eye on the BIG ISSUES

 Shielding the government from Public Opinion  Divided government as a check  Federalism  Separation of Powers  Bill of Rights  Independent Judiciary  Many different publics working against each other

 Survey of public opinion  Keys to good polling  Ask questions which people can understand  Word the questions fairly, take care to eliminate leading words and bias A true American’s favorite colors are red, white, and blue. Are these your favorite colors?

 Keys to good polling  Get good numbers (1,065 minimum)  RANDOM sampling  Any given adult has an equal shot at being questioned  Subgroups are represented in proportion to its population numbers

 Sampling Error  Natural deviation is inevitable  3% is a good goal  Makes very close elections difficult to predict

 Big/national elections  Polling is fairly accurate  Exit polls  Random voters leaving the voting station  Random voting districts  VERY accurate!

 Saliency – level of concern on an issue  Stability – the consistency of opinion over time  Opinion-Policy CONGRUENCE – how “in sync” the government policy is with public opinion

 Political Socialization – process by which people develop political views  Political Elites – people with a larger share of political power or interest or both

The Family  GREATLY affects party identification in young adults  Effect wanes as one matures  Those with STRONG party identification are more likely to pass along the party affiliation  Growth of Independents comes at a cost – losses by Democrats and Republicans

Religion Most pronounced on social issues

CLEAVEAGE – A critical division in opinion, beliefs, interests, etc. as leading to opposition between political groups

Gender  Since the mid-1960s  Men becoming more Republican  Women have stayed relatively consistent  Political issues separating men and women  Gun control  Government size  Spending on social programs  Gay rights

Schooling  College  BIG impact  Tends to make you more liberal  Higher education  Increased political involvement  Increased voting

Schooling  Modern graduates  Not as clearly defined as in the 60s  Slacker generation (hahahaha)  Less likely to read news articles  More likely to  Tune into talk radio  Get information from the Internet

 Class  Not as pronounced as in Europe Political LeaningNotes Unskilled WorkersDemocrat Not a very good indicator of party White Collar Workers Republican

Use your notes to complete  Schooling  Gender in your packet. Check your answers with a partner when you are finished.

 Race: Latino LeaningNotes Latino: Central America and Mexico DemocratNot a very good indicator of party Favor bigger government Oppose expanding abortion rights Feel Democrats handle the economy better Latino: Puerto Rican ModerateSame as above Latino: Cuban RepublicanSame as above

Use your text to complete  Race: Whites  Race: African Americans in your packet. Check your answers with a partner when you are finished.

 Race: Asian Americans LeaningNotes From: PEWRESEARCH : SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS The Rise of Asian Americans Updated Edition, April 04, 2013 Among all American adults, 49% fall in the Democratic camp and 39% identify with or lean toward the Republican Party. Indian Americans are the most heavily Democratic Asian subgroup (65%) Hmong and Korean Americans also lean heavily Democratic Filipino Americans and Vietnamese Americans are the most evenly split between the two parties. Despite often sizable subgroup differences, Asian Americans are distinctive as a whole, especially when compared with all U.S. adults strong emphasis on family have a pervasive belief in the rewards of hard work more likely to support an activist government 54% of Asian Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases more likely than whites to support affirmative action

 Political ideology – A consistent set of beliefs about what policies the government should follow  Ideological constraint – how consistent one’s political opinion on an issue remains over time or from one issue to another issue

 Liberalism – an active central government willing to engage in the economy and social welfare  Conservatism  Free market economy over government regulation  State government control over central government control  Individual choice over government control

 Pure liberal ideology  Liberal on economic issues  Government should work to reduce inequality  Government should regulate business  Government should tax the rich heavily  Liberal on issues of personal conduct  Allow abortions  Protect the rights of the accused  Broadest possible freedoms of expression  Pure liberal traits  Young  College educated  Nonreligious

 Pure conservative ideology  Conservative on economic issues  Cut back on welfare  Allow the market to allocate goods and services  Keep taxes low  Conservative on issues of personal conduct  Lock up criminals  Curb “anti-social” conduct  Pure conservative traits  Older  Higher income  White  Mid-westerner

 Libertarian ideology  Conservative on economic issues  Small weak government with little control over economic matters  Liberal on issues of personal conduct  Small weak government with little control over personal conduct  Libertarian traits  Young  College-educated  White  Higher income  Nonreligious  Westerner

 Populist ideology  Liberal on economic issues  Government should work to reduce economic inequality  Government should control business  Conservative on issues of personal conduct  Regulate “inappropriate” personal conduct  Lock up criminals  Permit prayer in schools  Populist traits  Older  Poorly educated  Lower income  Religious  Female  Southerner or Midwesterner

Casually referred to as Political Activists Usually more consistent than Joe Average The more involved in the political process, the more likely he or she is to have strong political views

 Why are the elites so consistent?  Information  Access to more information reinforces outlook  Connections are often made between issues which the average person would miss  Peer Group  The more you agree with a person’s views, the more likely you will associate with them  The more you associate with someone, the more your opinions will converge

 Elites and the public view politics in different ways  Elite Influence  Raise political issues  Frame political issues  Set the norms (standard of proper conduct) by which the issues should be resolved

 Cannot define economic problems  Cannot define social problems  The people live it, they know it  Elites may shape policy to address the problems though  So many different elites that they cancel each other out (Pluralist Theory)