1. Chapter 7: Public Opinion
Pages

2. Bell Ringer
Not create government that would do what the people want from day to day
Check Public Opinion
Popular rule
Elect House of Rep’s, Senate, presidential electors
Representative Gov, Bill of Rights, independent judiciary, federalism, separation of powers
Factions “No complete Public Opinion”

3. How is public opinion formed? Why public opinions differ.
Chapter Objectives
What is public opinion?
How is public opinion formed?
Why public opinions differ.

4. WHAT IS PUBLIC OPINION?

5. PUBLIC OPINION
How people think or feel about things (politics)
Vast majority of people knew next to nothing about government
Only vague notions of much-publicized public policy that affects us directly

6. Monetary Control Bill
1940s
21% favored the bill
25% opposed it
The rest said they hadn’t thought about it or didn’t Know
NO SUCH BILL

7. HOW POLLING WORKS
Poll – survey of public opinion
Random Sample – any given voter or adult has equal chance of being interviewed.
Sampling Error – difference between to identical polls

8. HOW POLLING WORKS
Exit Polls = interview randomly selected people at polling place on election day
Quite accurate except when a very close election

9. HOW OPINIONS DIFFER
Opinion saliency: some people care more about certain issues than other people do
Opinion Stability: some issues or choices opinions are steady, while on others they are more volatile
Opinion-policy congruence: some issues government is in sync with popular views, while on other issues it is significantly out of sync

10. Political Socialization
Personal and other background traits influence one’s views about politics and government matters
Your surroundings influence your political and Government beliefs

11. THE ELITE
People who have a disproportionate share of some valued resource (money)
Know more about politics
Hold more or less a consistent set of political beliefs
Government attends more to the elite views than the popular vies

12. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION

13. FAMILY 60% of adults adopt the party preference of their parents
There has been a decline in the ability of family to promote a partisan identification

14. RELIGION Religious differences make for political differences
Catholics – more liberal
Protestants – more conservative
Jewish – more liberal
SOCIAL ISSUES

15. GENDER GAP
Men and women both ID with Democrats at the same levels in 1950s
1990s men more Republican
WHY = men more conservative, Democratic female candidates

16. Schooling & Information
Longer in College more liberal
Political participation among college students has declined

17. CLEAVAGES IN PUBLIC OPINION
Social Class
Region
CLEAVAGES IN PUBLIC OPINION
Race & Ethnicity

18. Cleavages in Public Opinion
“It would be so much easier if everyone’s opinion on political affairs reflected some single feature of his or her life, such as income, occupation, age, race, or sex.”

19. SOCIAL CLASS
Public Opinion and voting less determined by class than in Europe
Becoming less clear-cut source of political cleavage
Noneconomic (abortion, race relations, environment, etc.) issues now define liberal and conservative

20. Race & Ethnicity African-Americans are overwhelmingly Democrat
Becoming a less clear-cut source of political change
The gap in opinions is narrowing between blacks and whites
Tables 7.4 & 7.5

21. Race & Ethnicity
Gap between leaders of African American Organizations and African Americans in general.
Gap between white leaders and white citizens
Gaps within own race

22. REGION
Southerners & Northerners disagree significantly
Southerners becoming less Democratic

23. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
Patterned set of political beliefs about who ought to rule, their principles and policies
Moderates – largest group of voters.
Figure 7.3 (pg 168)

24. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
Small minority take ideologically consistent views on political issues
People often express opinions at odds with their ideological label
Ideological thinking may be greater in some years than in others
Americans do not think of politics in an ideological manner

25. INCONSISTENT OPINIONS
VOTERS HAVE
....
INCONSISTENT OPINIONS
Conservative
Liberal

26. CONVENTIONAL LIBERAL VIEW
Favor bigger welfare state
Favor smaller military establishment

27. CONVENTIONAL CONSERVATIVE VIEW
Strong military
Prayer should be in schools
Oppose abortion on demand

28. Early 19th Century
Liberal: favored personal and economic liberty – freedom from the controls and powers of the state
Supported free market and opposed Government regulation of trade

29. Early 19th Century
Conservative: opposed the excesses of the French Revolution and its emphasis on personal freedom and favored instead a restoration of the power of the state, the church, and the aristocracy

30. Meaning of Coservative & Liberal Change
Franklin Roosevelt
THE NEW DEAL
Meaning of Coservative & Liberal Change

31. LIBERAL
An active national government that would intervene in the economy, create social welfare programs, and help certain groups gain greater bargaining power

32. CONSERVATIVE Barry Goldwater Free market rather than a regulated one
States’ rights over national supremacy
Individual choice in economic affairs
US play active role in world affairs

33. Conservative v. Liberal
TABLE 7.69
Conservative v. Liberal
PAGE 170

34. ECONOMY Liberals Favor gov. efforts to ensure everyone has a job
Spend more money on medical and educational programs
Increase rate of taxation for well-to-do persons

35. CIVIL RIGHTS Liberals Strong federal action to desegregate schools
Provide compensatory programs for minorities
Enforce Civil Rights laws strictly

36. Public & Political Conduct
Liberals:
Tolerant of protest demonstrations
Legalizing Marijuana
Eliminate crime causes rather than getting tougher with offenders

37. Two Political Views
Economy
Personal Conduct
Political Ideologies are Complex
Liberal and Conservative in their pure form describe the views of relatively few people

38. Political Elites
Are pure liberal or pure conservative because of information and peers
Activists: hold office, run for office, lead interest groups and social movements
Since 1980s Congress has showed more partisan voting

39. Political Elites Elites influence public opinion in two ways.
Elites raise and frame political issues: influence what issues capture public opinion and how those issues are debated and decided
State the norms by which issues should be settled

40. POLITICAL ELITES HAVE A DISPROPORTIONATE INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC POLICY AND ENVEN AND INFLUENCE ON MASS OPINION