1. Chapter 7
Public Opinion

2. Public Opinion-what people think about issues
How to explain gaps between what the government does and what the people want
the government doesn’t do daily what the people want
it is not always easy to know what the public want

3. U of Cincinnati asked 1200 local residents what they thought about passage of the Monetary Control Bill
21% favored the bill
25% opposed the bill
Rest said they had never thought about it

4. Scientific Polling
-can capture the opinions of 300 million Americans by polling 1500 people
-determine universe of people to be sampled and methods to sample opinion
Surveys, phone calls, exit polls, question types
-poll a random sample of people in the universe
-difference between the results of two surveys is called the sampling error

5. Issues of Public opinion
Opinion saliency-some people care more about certain issues than other people do
Opinion stability-on some issues opinions are steady and on others they are fluid
Opinion policy congruence-government being sync or out of sync with public opinion

6. Political Socialization
The process by which personal and other background traits influence one’s views about politics and government

7. The Parents and family-in regards to Party ID

8. Religious tradition-bigger on social and moral issues than other issues

9. The gender Gap-Women more liberal, men more conservative on issues

10. Gender Gap

11. Schooling and education-more liberal the more educated you are
Schooling and education-more liberal the more educated you are???? Used to be true!

12. Social Class-class voting has declined in face of moral and cultural issues

13. Race and ethnicity-sharp differences in voting and public opinion between black and white

14. Region-South tends to be more conservative on moral and cultural issues, less hospitable to labor interests