1. Ideology and Public Opinion
Ideology and Public Opinion
15 October, 2007

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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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”

7. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16. Distribution of Ideology over time
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
Source: American National Election Studies ( )

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

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

19. Red and Blue States (2004 Presidential Election)

20. Another Way of Looking at the Distribution of Votes

21. Culture War?
Fiorina argues that the ideological disputes that engage political elites and activists have little resonance among the American mass public
Ordinary 21st century Americans “are not very well-informed about politics, do not hold many of their views very strongly, and are not ideological” (p. 19).

22. Culture War?
Fiorina’s characterization of Americans as uninterested and non-ideological may apply very well to the large number of Americans who rarely or never vote.
However, it may not apply as well to regular voters, and it is voters whose opinions are of greatest concern to candidates and elected officials.

23. Distribution of Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

24. Distribution of Non Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

25. Percentage of voters donating money to a party or candidate by ideology

26. Polarization
Electoral competition in the United States now appears to be structured by ideology
The American public appears to be increasingly divided into two groups: the politically engaged, who view politics in ideological terms, and the politically disengaged, who do not.