Public Opinion and the Media Chapter 9 Essential Question: To what extent do the media influence your political views?

How our politics form Political socialization is the formation of beliefs and values from early childhood to old age. Agents of socialization – institutions that teach us Parents/family – likely our #1 teaching agent School – teach respect, participation Religion – affects political views Peers – others’ opinions matter Gender & ethnicity – we may ID with these groups News media – what we pay attention to

Public opinion = the sum of many individual opinions about a person or issue. Shaped by… Special interest groups Journalists, “talking heads” on TV, etc. Politicians – speak of “what the people think” Public opinion as… Guide – it gives direction for our gov’t Guard – it protects against unpopular actions Glue – agreement on fundamental principles, despite disagreements on details

Common persuasive techniques The tricks to get us to think the way they want. Name-Calling – personal attacks to distract from the real issues Transfer – symbols or images that evoke emotions Bandwagon – impression that everyone feels this way Plain Folks – everyday images/language to show that the candidate is a regular person

Common persuasive techniques (cont.) Testimonial – having a well-known celebrity endorse a candidate Card-Stacking – facts, statistics, evidence that support only one side Glittering Generalities – vague, sweeping statements that appeal emotionally, but lack specifics Humor – something funny often means it will be remembered

Polling Straw polls – simply, “raise your hand if you support…” Scientific sampling – reflects the whole population; this is used by opinion polls The difference…straw polls may NOT reflect the whole population Ex.: mailing out a poll only reaches certain people and only certain people respond (same with phone polls) Margin of error – this is a +/- accuracy stat (usually +/- 4%) Tracking polls – measure support day-by-day Exit polls – asked just after people vote These polls are used/abused by candidates, media, & special interest groups