1. Participation and Voting Pols 4349.02 Dr. Brian William Smith

2. Office Hours  When Monday and Wednesday 10-2 Tuesday and Thursday 11-2 And by appointment  Where Doyle 206  Phone – 428-1294  Email- brianws@stedwards.edubrianws@stedwards.edu

3. Office Hours  The University Requires faculty hold 5 hours a week  I hold 14 hours a week

4. Overview This course examines theories of: public opinion voter turnout Partisanship electoral choices Specific elections 2008 Presidential Election 2010 Congressional Elections. Institutions

5. Learning outcomes I  Upon completing this class, students will be able to Understand basics of polling and be able to analyze and explain polling and survey data. Evaluate how people develop political opinions and how this impacts their political behavior. Understand the decision making process for why people vote as they do and how this changes over time. Evaluate and interpret the importance of partisanship in shaping political opinion and vote choice

6. Learning Outcomes II  Analyze the theories of why people vote and apply them to the 2008 and 2010 Election.  Identify and describe the formal and informal institutions involved in the electoral process  Assess the upcoming 2012 Presidential Elections through in-depth analysis of a potential presidential nominee and create a political roadmap for that candidate.  This will be accomplished through readings, class lectures, projects, essay exams and a final paper.

7. Required Textbook I  Political Behavior of the American Electorate  Flanigan and Zingale

8. Required Textbook II  American Public Opinion, 8 th Edition  Erikson and Tedin

9. Grading  Three Tests- Essay Exams (75%)  Projects (10%)  Final Paper (15%)

10. Attendance/Extra Credit/Late Assignments  No

11. Academic Integrity According to the University Handbook: St. Edward's University expects academic honesty from all students; consequently, all work submitted for grading in a course must be created as the result of your own thought and effort. Representing work as your own when it is not a result of your own thought and effort is a violation of the St. Edward's Academic Honesty policy. The normal penalty for a student who is dishonest in any work is to receive a mark of F for that course. Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty and may result in the same penalty. In cases of mitigating circumstances, the instructor has the option to assign a lesser penalty. A student who has been assigned the grade of F because of academic dishonesty does not have the option of withdrawing from the course. I encourage students to study collaboratively (ie, in groups), however, I expect students to do their own work on the assigned exercises

12. WHAT IS PUBLIC OPINION? (WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

13. Public Opinion as a Linkage  Elections are frequent, but what happens in between?  We want decision-makers to meet the expectations of the public  Public opinion provides this link

14. Public Opinion as Elite Opinion  Who are Elites?  Plato  The Founders

15. Public Opinion as Mass Opinion  The role of popular sovereignty  The opinions of all, not just the ruling elite

16. The Public In Public Opinion  General Public  Attentive Public  Issue Publics  Sub-publics or subgroups

17. The opinion in Public Opinion  Attitudes that are verbalized  Must be expressed in words or writing  Can be difficult to measure

18. Empirical vs. Normative  Opinions are Normative  We can measure them empirically!

19. The Problem of measuring opinions  Meaningless responses  General vs. Intense Opinion  All responses count equally

20. So What is Public Opinion  The Collective attitudes of the public to the issues of the Day  The Preferences of the adult population on matters of relevance to government

21. THEORIES OF PUBLIC OPINION How Do We Develop our Opinions?

22. The Rational-Activist Link  We Follow Politics  Form Opinions based on our knowledge  Select Policies and Politicians that come closest to our preferences

23. Political Parties Model  Parties link our opinions to government  We use the parties for cues  Problems?

24. Interest Group Model  Interest Groups Link our Opinions to Government  “The Flaw in the Pluralist Heaven”

25. The Delegate Model  Elected officials move to meet our needs  Problems?

26. The Sharing Model  Linkage is easy because most opinions are shared by all (including politicians)  The Role of Descriptive Representation