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

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. 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?

20. 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)

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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Stability in Opinion on Health Care

25. Stability in Spending Preferences

26. Stability in Foreign Policy Activism

27. Example of Opinion Shift Following Crisis

28. Defense Spending Responds to Crisis

29. Example of Opinion Change in Response to Historical Trends