American Government and Organization PS1301 Wednesday, 22 October

Knowledge Quiz: People Who is Dick Cheney? Who is your representative? What office does Dennis Hastert hold? Who is William Rehnquist?

Knowledge of Political parties Which party is more liberal? Do you happen to know which party had the most members in the House of Representatives in Washington before the election (this/last) month? Do you happen to know which party had the most members in the U.S. Senate before the election (this/last) month?

Knowledge of Civics Who has the final responsibility to decide if a law is constitutional or not...is it the President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, or don't you know? What are the first ten Amendments to the Constitution called? What majority is needed to override a presidential veto? How long is a senator’s term in office?

Knowledge of Policy Which party favors spending more money on defense? Which party favors spending more federal spending?

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 OpportunityCapacityInterest Education combines all three elements of learning

Does Lack of Information Matter? Uninformed populace can be manipulated By Media, Experts, Politicians, Bureaucrats 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

Trends in Public Opinion On many issues, opinion is relatively stable. Response to crises, cycles

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

Issue Publics People who follow a particular issue closely and who are well informed about it and have strong opinions on it are attentive publics Public opinion is not a single entity 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?