American Government and Organization American Government and Organization Lecture 2 16 October

Review: The American Political System Designed to protect against majority rule and protect minority rights Examples Viewed in comparative perspective

Nature and Acquisition of Opinions and Values Process by which one acquires values and develops opinions is called socialization. Agents of socialization Family and Friends School News media Lifetime Learning: new jobs, new friends, new neighborhoods

Ideology A package of ideas, a way of organizing one’s thinking about political issues and leaders. Anchored by core values that serve to structure other ideas

Liberal vs. conservative A core value that distinguishes them and influences their positions on a variety of issues is whether government should actively promote individual equality. Liberals [in the United States] favor active government intervention to promote equality of outcomes/results flat rate vs. regressive rate income tax vs. sales tax Conservatives believe that government should be limited to ensuring equality of opportunities in economic matter. In social matters, however, conservatives favor a more expansive role for government

American Individualism Figure 4.2 Percentage saying they “completely agree” with the following statement: “It is the responsibility of the state to take care of very poor people who can’t take care of themselves”

Right vs. Left Direction comes from French political tradition Those who generally supported the policies of the monarch were seated to his right and those who proposed changes in the system were arranged to his left. At the extremes individuals are extremely dissatisfied and want revolutionary change

Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Views of Ideological Groups Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Views of Groups by Ideology Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Views of Institutions by Ideology Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Views of Interest Groups Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Interpersonal Trust Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

Distribution of Ideology over time Conservative Moderate Liberal Source: American National Election Studies (1972-2004)

Who are the Liberals? Poor Low Education Low Strata Occupation Minority Urban Jew, Catholic Democrats

Who are the Conservatives? Wealthy High Education High Status Occupation White Suburban Protestant Republican

Public Opinion and Issue Publics Public opinion is not a single entity People who follow a particular issue closely and who are well informed about it and have strong opinions on it are attentive publics What items in the news have drawn a lot of attention nationally or in our community? What public’s have been affected? Have different publics held different opinions about these issues? How has that difference affected the direction of public opinion?

The Public’s Political Knowledge 89 percent identified Al Gore as the vice president (1998) 75 percent know which party had a majority in the House of Representatives (1996) 67 percent knew the Supreme Court decides if laws are constitutional (1992) 60 percent could identify Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House (1998) 46 percent know that the first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights (1989) 25 percent know that the term of U.S. Senators is six years 11 percent know that William Rehnquist was chief justice of the United States (2000)

Explaining Knowledge Opportunity Capacity Interest Education combines all three elements of learning

Does Lack of Information Matter? Uninformed populace can be manipulated By Media, Experts, Politicians, Bureaucrats Associated with antidemocratic views Low levels of participation Politicians lead astray Voting incorrectly

Cause for Optimism? People can make decisions without being fully informed Concept of “limited rationality” Random “errors” cancel each other out. Stability in aggregate public opinion

Stability in Opinion on Health Care

Stability in Spending Preferences

Stability in Foreign Policy Activism

Example of Opinion Shift Following Crisis

Defense Spending Responds to Crisis

Example of Opinion Change in Response to Historical Trends