Political Socialization Why do we believe what we believe?

Political Socialization Political attitudes are grounded in values. We learn these values by a process known as political socialization. Many factors influence opinion formation What are the factors that influence opinion?

The Mass Media In 2004 over 40 percent of those polled regularly learned about the election of candidates from The Tonight Show, The Late Show, or The Daily Show

Recently Seen on the AP Exam Jewish People are more Liberal while Protestants are more Conservative Whites are more Conservative while African Americans are more Liberal Women are more likely to be democrats while men are more likely to be Republicans Southern Citizens are more likely to be conservative while Northern Citizens are more likely to be democratic

The Mass Media Because of this Candidates are starting to go to popular talk shows to get their points to the public Kerry and Bush went to Dr. Phil Gov. Huckabee on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Declining Trust in Government Divided Government What is it? Problems with a Divided Government Heightened Partisanship Decline in the Middle (Moderates frozen out, extremes driving legislation) Gridlock When the political process stops. Leads to extensive delays and frustration in the Public

Increased cost of Elections Candidates must spend more time raising money and not on the issues Role of interest groups have become more profound. Many corporations and connections to wealthy donors Keeps good people from running Perception of Wasteful spending

Consequences in Lack of Trust in the Government Protest Decline in Voting Increase in independents or third party identifiers Less overall political participation

Public Opinion “ Is what the people think about an issue or set of issues at any given point in time” Normally measured by polls Interviews or surveys of a sampling of people What are the problems of public opinion polling?

Public Opinion The distribution of individual attitudes about a particular issue, candidate, political institution, etc.

George Gallup Developed “Gallup Polls” Started in 1932 1st “pollster” Since 1936, agency has picked one general election result incorrect

Sampling Representative – must mirror population you want answer about Random – give everyone an equal possibility of being sampled Wording – questions can’t be leading Straw poll – poor polling technique

Good or Bad Polls Word Questioning A question which is poorly worded can result in flawed polls. EX. Are you for or against killing innocent babies? 95% or Americans are against abortion

Sampling You can’t poll everyone so you must find a way to get a sampling of people. This can be taken advantage of by manipulating the sampling pool. Best way to take a reliable sample is a scientific random sample A method of a poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected What is the problem with this?

Sampling Stratified Sampling- Using census data are used to divide the country into four sampling regions. Sets of countries and standard metropolitan statistical areas are then randomly selected in proportion to the total national population Quota System- In which a pollster makes sure the survey represents the make up of the city or county. 30% African American 15% Latino