Discussion Questions Should government officials consider public opinion when making decisions or should they just do what they think is best? (delegate v. trustee model) How might a politician find out what public opinion is on a particular issues. (as may ways as you can think of)

Discussion Questions 3) What are the positive and negative qualities of each of these methods.

Political Socialization What influences your political thinking?

Warmup Draw a picture of yourself/representing yourself. Place the picture of yourself in the middle of the paper with room around it to add. Then draw pictures representing all the spheres of influence connected to shaping your political thinking. Share with a neighbor.

Political Culture The widely shared beliefs, values, and norms about how citizens relate to government and to one another.

Political Socialization process by which political culture is transmitted through society occurs at both the individual and community level variety of agents contribute to shaping Lead us to obtain our political beliefs

Main Agents of Socialization: Primary (direct influence) - family, peer groups Secondary (less personal, indirect) - media, educational institutions, religious institutions, workplace, state actors

Socialization & Polling Companies and candidates attempt to gain an understanding of the public’s political culture in order to better market their products and candidate’s campaign.

Important elements for a scientific poll Random Sampling Large Sample Size Non-Biased Questions

Video Clip from PBS NewsHour