1. Chapter 18 Interest Groups & Public Opinion

2. Interest Group Organization A group of people united to promote a special interest. and influence the gov’t They support candidates, try to influence lawmakers A bridge from people to gov’t

3. Why do they exist? What we want. Strength in numbers. Economic self interest (Labor Unions, Business groups) Promoting beliefs, values, attitudes AKA “Pressure Groups”

4. Such as…

5. Public Interest Groups More general. Defend Public Interests as a whole. As they see them.

6. They Create Policy How can policy be affected? Advertising, to create public support. Court action Amendments Bribes!!!

7. What else do they do? Provide information Actually provide drafts of bills Gain Support by… Media campaigns Letter writing

8. Lobbying & Lobbyists Direct contact with lawmakers to influence their opinions. Interest group reps are lobbyists Anyone employed by a client, spending more than one contact on behalf of the client, spent more than 20% of their time working for client. Many former gov’t officials. Why?

9. PACs and Political Campaigns. Political Action Committees represent corporations, labor unions, or interest groups. Provide candidates with contributions. Pacs created in 1976, dramatic increase $59M to 596M in 2004 Incumbents receive the lion’s share.

10. Financing Political Campaigns Dependence on media campaigning means a greater dependence on campaign contributions. As campaigns have focused on advertising, the cost of campaigning has skyrocketed. In 2000, candidates spent more than $3 billion. Without the ability to raise large sums of money for campaign costs, candidates have little chance of winning.

11. Federal Election Campaign Act 1971 Limited spending on advertising and required disclosure on contributions of over $100. Unions and corporations could no longer make direct contributions - had to set up Political Action Committees (PACs). Voluntary income-tax check-off for contributing to presidential campaigns was created.

12. Financing the Campaign Buckley v. Valeo. 1971 act had placed limits on how much money a candidate could spend on his or her own campaign. 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that this provision was unconstitutional.

13. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974: Created Federal Election Commission. Public funding of presidential elections. Limited presidential campaign spending for those who accept. Placed limits on contributions. Individual $1,000 per candidate per election, with a maximum total of $25,000. PACs limited to $5,000 per candidate per election. (Excluding “soft money” contributions to the political parties for “party building” activities.)

14. Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The act banned soft money contributions to the national party committees. Limitations on issue advocacy advertisements and increased the individual contribution limit to $2000 (from $1000). Consequences of the 2002 Act. One impact of the act will be that it will hurt the ability of the political parties to help the candidates running on the party label.

15. Beyond the Limits. Problems caused by soft money, which allow contributors to skirt limits but still influence the election. Contributions to Political Parties. The legislation of 1971and 1974 placed no restrictions on money given to parties for voter registration, general publicity about a party’s positions, and the national conventions. Contributions for such purposes were called “soft money,” as opposed to regulated “hard money.”

16. Jailed Lobbyists

17. Soft Money. Independent Expenditures. It was soon discovered that it was legal to make independent expenditures not coordinated with the candidates’ campaigns. Issue Advocacy. Interest groups buy advertising that advocates positions on issues and either attack or praise candidates on the basis of the issues. As long as no candidates are actually endorsed, the tactic is legal.

18. What is Public Opinion? The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population there is no one public opinion because there are many different “publics” consensus – when there is general agreement among the citizenry on an issue divisive opinions – when public opinion is polarized between two quite different positions

19. Consensus and Divisive © 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™

20. Qualities of Public Opinion Intensity – the strength of a position for or against an issue an intense minority often can win on issue over a less intense majority Fluidity – the extent to which public opinion changes over time Stability – the extent to which public opinion remains constant over a period of time

21. Qualities of Public Opinion (cont.) relevance – the extent to which an issue is of concern at a particular time issues become relevant when they are viewed as of direct concern to daily life political knowledge – the extent to which individuals are aware of an issue

22. Polling Techniques random sample – each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample quota sample – a less accurate technique wherein polling organizations predetermine the characteristics of the needed sample, and then find respondents with those characteristics to fill the slots sampling error – the difference between a sample’s results and the result

23. Problems with Polls polls as a “snapshot in time” of potentially shifting opinions presidential election polls in 1948 and 1980 sampling errors unscientific polls: Internet, phone-in wording of questions influence of interviewer high nonresponse rates

24. Political Socialization the process by which individuals acquire political beliefs and attitudes How are Americans socialized? Family the most important force in socialization parents communicate preferences to children children want to please parents and are receptive to their views

25. Political Socialization, School learn patriotism, structure of government and how to form positions on issues the more education a person has, the more likely he or she will be interested in politics Peers most likely to shape political opinions when peer groups are politically active

26. Political Socialization, (cont.) Religious Influence religious groups are likely to transmit definite political preferences Roman Catholics, Jewish  more liberal Protestants  more conservative

27. Political Socialization, (cont.) Economic Status and Occupation poorer people  more inclined to favor social-welfare programs, more conservative on social issues, more isolationist richer people  conservative economically

28. Political Socialization, (cont.) Influence of Political Events events impact people’s political attitudes when the effect of an event is long-lasting and impacts the preferences of those who came of age at that time, it is called a generational effect Great Depression, World War II and the Vietnam War

29. Political Socialization, Opinion Leaders’ Influence leaders sometimes influence the opinions of others Media Influence newspapers, television, radio and the Internet influence public opinion

30. Political Socialization, Demographic Traits African Americans  more liberal whites  comparatively conservative younger adults  more liberal older adults  comparatively conservative The Gender Gap – the difference between the % of votes a candidates receives from women versus from men women tend to vote more Democrat men tend to vote more Republican

31. Political trust © 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™

32. Problem trends © 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™

33. Discussion How can public opinion influence politicians and other government officials? How much should public opinion influence government decisions? In what ways are political socialization agents working on you now? How much does school shape political views?