Chapter 6

Political Socialization and Public Opinion

Political Socialization

The way people acquire their political values.

Family members.

School and peers.

Media, especially television.

Religion.

Demographics: race, ethnicity, gender, age, and region.

Outside events.

AV- Racial and Ethnic Attitudes

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Figure 11.1- First-Year Student Ideology

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Figure 11.2- Religious Self-Identification

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Figure 11.3- Views on Hurricane Katrina

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History of Public Opinion Polls

Successes of Literary Digest from 1920-1932.

Used straw polls to make predictions.

Literary Digest was incorrect in 1936; error in sample.

George Gallup made correct prediction.

Gallup was a pioneer in scientific public opinion polls.

Continues to be successful today.

Figure 11.4- The Gallup Poll

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Conducting Public Opinion Polls

Determining content and phrasing questions.

Selecting sample.

Common methods are random or stratified sampling.

Contacting respondents.

Random digit dialing is most popular.

Figure 11.6- Random Digit Dialing

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Types of Political Polls

Push polls are used to influence opinion.

Tracking polls are taken on a daily basis.

Exit polls are taken after leaving a polling place.

Figure 11.7- Daily Tracking Poll

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Shortcomings of Polling

Must consider margin of error.

May make errors in selecting the sample.

Polls limit respondents’ options.

People may not have enough information to answer.

Measures of intensity may be imprecise.

Figure 11.5- Opinion on Gas Taxes

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Table 11.2- Political Knowledge

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Influences on Public Opinion

Political socialization.

Personal benefits.

Political knowledge, or lack thereof.

Cues from leaders.

Political ideology.

Figure 11.8- Public Opinion on Iraq

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Table 11.1- Gender Differences

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Effects of Public Opinion

May influence the course of public policy.

Some critics argue this weakens democracy.

Creation of bandwagon and underdog effects.