Public Opinion, Mass Media, & Political Parties

Opinion polls- often inaccurate but important to campaigns Scientific polls- more accurate Scientific polls- more accurate +/- sampling error+/- sampling error Random samplingRandom sampling Fair questionsFair questions Elections- best measure- but don’t tell us why people voted as they did Elections- best measure- but don’t tell us why people voted as they did Exit polls- least reliableExit polls- least reliable

Political Spectrum: Ideologies Liberal: government should be used to fix social & economic problems. Support gov’t regulation of the economy, affirmative action, & separation of church and state. Conservative: want to limit government assistance. Oppose gov’t regulation of the economy (prefer laissez-faire/capitalist approach). Usually pro-life and in favor of death penalty. Moderate: make up both parties, usually split ticket voters

Factors that influence Ideology We are stereotyping BUT ONLY for the purpose of learning about demographics Gender: women more liberal than men (gender gap) Race: African Americans & Latinos tend to favor more liberal social programs; Cubans & Asians usually very conservative Religion: Jews & African Americans are considered most liberal. White Protestants are most conservative. Catholics are usually liberal but socially conservative. Income: Wealthier Americans are usually fiscally conservative. Poorer Americans are often liberal on social welfare policies Location/Region: Rural South & Midwest are conservative (red states); urban areas & coastal states are predominantly liberal (blue states)

Media

MEDIA BIAS? Media has bias but most news networks strive to be unbiased Some cable news channels are obviously biased (i.e. MSNBC is left and Fox News is right) Public opinion polls conducted by these outlets could also be biased Most journalists identify as liberals Most talk radio is conservative

Political Parties Parties are not mentioned in the Constitution Madison warned of factions in Fed #10 Two Party System: 2 major parties dominate elections

Parties 101 Democrats: advance social welfare programs, increase funding for public education & healthcare, tax the rich, pro-choice, gov’t regulation of guns. Republicans: fund the military, tax cuts across the board, reduce social welfare programs, anti-abortion, opposed to government healthcare.

Party Coalitions Critical election: anytime a new party emerges Realignment: coalitions fall apart and voters realign with a new party Dealignment: voters vote against their party and could eventually lead to realignment down the road Coalition: groups of voters than ban together (i.e. pro-lifers, “Bluedog” democrats, social conservatives, Tea Partiers, veterans, feminists, union members. There are different coalitions for each party.

1.Provide balance 2.Bring up important issues that often do not get addressed by major parties (women’s suffrage, child labor laws) Ralph Nader Independent/Green party candidate