Session: Political Identity & Voting Q of the Day: How do people develop their political Identity & feel and behave in elections? Unit 2: Democratic Foundations

What You Are Doing Today: You are examining how people develop their political identity You are analyzing the impact of the 2016 election on the U.S. You will take a political identity quiz to help begin to determine your political identity You will write a reflection describing who YOU ARE politically speaking

Preamble-The Millennial Vote For this 2016 election, all EYES AND EARS are focused on the Millennial Vote (FYI Millennials are people born 1981 to 1998) Here is a video that will help you understand the “generations” in context: From The Daily Show- comedian Louis Black As you watch: What impression does Louis Black give about Millennials? Why do you think Millennials are important in this election? Back in Black- Getting out the Millennial Vote Take 2 mins to debrief with your SW partner- person who will be 18 sooner talks first Bringing this out to the floor…

What is Public Opinion? Def.: Politically relevant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly. Attitudes and opinions of a large group of people on particular issues Let’s see how you feel about “issues”: At this time take your cell phones out You will be taking what is called a public opinion poll (survey) You will answer a series of questions by texting a response to a number on screen We will then see instant results on how people feel on certain issues Poll Everywhere

Millennials By the Numbers Voting Data: Population Data:

Political Socialization So, where do we get our public opinions? Political Socialization: the learning process by which people acquire their political opinions, beliefs, and values. Take 1 min to discuss with your SW partner the words that are underlined Where do you think opinions are acquired from? Where do we get our values and beliefs from?

Agents of Political Socialization Def. The agents that have a significant impact on citizens’ political socialization. Primary Agents: Parents and families (#1 influence!) Schools Religious Organizations Secondary Agents: Peer Groups Media Leaders

Primary Socializing Agents Family: Main influence for early life. Political leanings developed early, later given reasons. School: Reinforce importance of political institutions, pride in country and values (liberty, equality, participation in govt.) Religion: Socializes beliefs in societal topics, esp. treating the poor and the unborn.

Secondary Socializing Agents Peers: tend to socialize with like peers, and within groups minority opinions are often silenced by majority ones. Media: influence indirectly, through images and themes. (ex. Exposure to crime on television makes people believe society is more dangerous than it is). Leaders: Authority figures and those well respected can impact public opinion. Ex. The President (#1), News Media figures (Oprah Winfrey, Jon Stewart, Bill O’Riley)

Let’s See How this works… Re-create the table below to get you started: Family School Religion Peers Media Leaders

Morgana’s Pol. Id Chart This is an example of what you are doing with this chart Family Raised Catholic Latin Amer Immigrants Working class values (hard work etc) School All education public school Urban schooling Influenced by teachers as mentors Religion Mom strong Catholic background At teen age, went vs church and values No set religion now Peers Early age- mostly similar backgrounds College found diversity in people = diversity in thoughts/opinion Media Don’t watch TV news because of “noise” Get news from public radio mostly NPR Leaders High influence from Civil Rts leaders and historical figures seeking change Respects any leader now anywhere with compassion/intelligence

YOUR Pol Id Chart Fill YOUR OWN Chart as best as you can: Take 5 mins Family School Religion Peers Media Leaders

Political Ideology Based on the Political socialization from all the Agents that shape your political public opinions, you then define your political ideology Def. Consistent pattern of opinion on particular issues that stems from a core belief or set of beliefs. Americans have ideological leanings: Liberal and Conservative on the Political Spectrum. Lets see what that looks like:

The Political Spectrum Left Right Liberal Conservative Radical Reactionary Moderate

Dividing the Issues In general, political issues can be divided into two categories: Economic Issues: Dealing with money, business, taxes, government regulation of business, Government spending, wealth distribution Cultural (Social) Issues: Dealing with society and the way people live, crime, morality, prison, liberties, rights Let’s now TEST who YOU are Politically Speaking

I Side With… Open your laptops, sign in, and open a web browser Open Google and type in isidewith.com Instructions: Click on tab that says “Take The Quiz” Answer the questions that are listed On the left side of screen there is question that states “how important” and then a sliding scale- click on that when you’re done with question- this will help to determine the best results The button that says “Other stances” gives you more answer options with more specifics- click if you want to see these At the end press “submit” and you will see your results

Debrief YOUR Results/Reflection Now that you have taken this political quiz- let’s debrief your answers: Take the next 5-7 mins to review the results from isidewith.com Questions to consider as you debrief: Who is the presidential candidate best matched to you? What political party does this correspond you with? What are the most important issues for you based on results? Where are you on the “political spectrum”? What “issues” would you like to learn more about?

For your Blog… Your Blog this week will ask you more questions and to compose a much larger response based on the experience today.