Chapter 6 Public Opinion, Political Socialization and Media

Public Opinion  Aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of adult population No one public opinion; many different “publics” Key role in policymaking  Source of power  Helps candidates identify issues Sets limits on government action through public pressure

Measuring Public Opinion  Opinion poll = method of systematically questioning small, selected sample of respondents deemed representative of total population  Simple random sample = each member of population has equal chance of being selected for sample Most scientific; sample represents population’s diversity in demography and opinion

Problems with Polls  “Snapshot in time”  Classic errors: presidential election polls (1948, Dewey beating Truman; 1980, Carter beating Reagan)  Sampling errors (e.g., biased samples, samples too small, etc.)  Question wording/influence of interviewer  Unscientific polls (Internet, phone-in, push polls)  High non-response rates

Political Socialization  Process by which individuals acquire political beliefs, attitudes, and opinions  Agents/forces Family Education Peers Religion Economic Status/occupation/class Political Events Opinion Leaders Media/TV/Internet Demography/Age/Gender

Family  Most important agent  Communication and Receptivity Parents communicate preferences to children To please parents children receptive to their views  Important for party identification  Class poll: How many of us have followed in our parents’ footsteps when it comes to party identification?

Education and Peers  Education patriotism, structure of government, how to form positions on issues more education, more likely interested in politics  Peers most likely to shape political opinions when peer group is politically active

Religion  Traditional view definite effect Roman Catholics  more liberal Protestants  more conservative Jews  more liberal  More recent trends Non-religious  very liberal socially; mixed economically Protestants and Catholics vary socially and economically  Social conservatism among Christians Degree of religious commitment Conservative, evangelical, or fundamentalist

SES/Class  Income strong predictor of liberalism or conservatism Lower income  More likely to favor government action, benefit poor, promote economic equality  More likely to be socially conservative  More likely to be Democrat  Less likely to participate Higher income  More likely to oppose government action or economic equality  More likely to be socially liberal  More likely to be Republican or Libertarian  More likely to participate  Socioeconomic status (SES) = best predictor of participation

Political Events  Can shape people’s political attitudes  Generational effect = long-lasting effect of events of particular time on political opinions of those who came of age at that time Great Depression World War II Vietnam War 9/11?

Media  Media = channels of mass communication Newspapers, television, radio and Internet strongly influence public opinion Certainly what to think about, known as agenda setting  Mainly private, for-profit corporations

Demography  Region South, Great Plains, and Rockies  Republican West Coast and Northeast  Democratic  Residence (urban/suburban/rural) Big cities  liberal and Democratic Small communities  conservative and Republican  Ethnicity African Americans  more liberal Whites  more conservative  Gender Men more likely to vote Republican Women more likely to vote Democratic

Political Process  Public opinion Source of power Identify key issues Shape campaigns  Political culture = collection of beliefs and attitudes toward government and political process Symbols and shared beliefs Provides environment of support (trust, legitimacy) Political trust = degree of trust in government and political institutions Standard for evaluation of performance

Media and Politics  Functions of Media Entertainment Reporting news Identifying public problems  Setting public agenda = issues perceived by political community as meriting public attention and governmental action Socializing generations Providing political forum Making profits  Enormous impact on politics

Television  Most influential medium (primary source for 90% of Americans) Big business Increase in news-type programming Influence on political process Highly superficial, “Sound bites” Narrowcasting

Media and Campaigns  Advertising (very costly campaigns) Negative advertising works Reduces participation, increases cynicism  Management of news coverage spin = interpretation favorable to candidate’s campaign spin doctors = campaign tries to convince journalists of truth of favorable interpretation