Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.
-
Upload
holly-hampton -
Category
Documents
-
view
221 -
download
0
Transcript of Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.
![Page 1: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Chapter Seven
Public Opinion
Mr. Ognibene
AP Government
![Page 2: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Unit Objectives• List the sources of our political attitudes and indicate
which are the most important.
• Explain why there are crosscutting cleavages between liberals and conservatives in this country. Assess the significance of race, ethnicity, and gender in explaining political attitudes.
• Define political ideology and give reasons why most Americans do not think ideologically. Summarize the liberal and conservative positions on the economy, civil rights, and political conduct.
• Discuss the basic elements of polling and explain how polling reflects the attitudes of people generally.
![Page 3: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
What is Public Opinion?• Public opinion: How people think or feel
about particular things
• Not easy to measure
• The opinions of active and knowledgeable people carry more weight
Theme A: Public Opinion Polling
![Page 4: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Polling Basics
• polling basics
• Time Explains
![Page 5: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
How Polling Works
• Pollsters need to pose reasonable questions that are worded fairly
• They have to ask people about things for which they have some basis to form an opinion
![Page 6: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Random Sampling
• Random sampling is necessary to insure a reasonably accurate measure of how the entire population thinks or feels
• For populations over 500,000, pollsters need to make about 15,000 phone calls to reach 1,065 respondents, insuring the poll has a sampling error of only +/- 3%
![Page 7: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
How Opinions Differ
• Opinion saliency: some people care more about certain issues than other people do
• Opinion stability: the steadiness or volatility of opinion on an issue
• Opinion-policy congruence: the level of correspondence between government action and majority sentiment on an issue
![Page 8: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Theme A Discussion Questions• All of the items listed are related to fears that polling may
manipulate electoral outcomes, even when it provides incomplete or inaccurate information. Explore each of these possibilities in greater detail. Which do you consider the greater danger? Why?
• Given the limitations of public opinion polling, compare and contrast the concerns of the following three poll consumers: elected politicians, journalists, and voters.
• What ethical guidelines, if any, should constrain the work of pollsters employed by the campaign organizations of incumbent politicians? Of their challengers? Explain the similarities and differences in your responses.
![Page 9: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Political Socialization• Political socialization: the process by which
personal and other background traits influence one’s views about politics and government
• Family: Party identification of your family is absorbed, although children become more independent-thinking with time
• Religion: Families form and transmit political beliefs through their religious tradition
Theme B: Group Cleavages, Political Attitudes, and Political Ideology
![Page 10: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
The Gender Gap
• Men have become increasingly Republican since the mid-1960s
• Women have continued to identify with the Democratic Party at approximately the same rate since the early 1950s
• This reflects attitudinal differences between men and women about the size of government, gun control, social programs, and gay rights
![Page 11: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Table 7.3: The Gender Gap: Differences in Political Views of Men and Women
![Page 12: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Education
• From 1920s through 1960s, studies showed a college education had a liberalizing effect, possibly because of exposure to liberal elites
• Contemporary college students’ opinions are more complicated
![Page 13: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Table 5.3:The
Changing College Student
![Page 14: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Figure 7.1: Generational Gaps on the Issues
Survey by Washington Post/Henry J. Kaiser Foundation/Harvard University, August 2-September 1, 2002, as reported in Elizabeth Hamel et al., "Younger Voters," Public Perspective, May/June 2003, p. 11.
![Page 15: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Social Class
• Social class: ill-defined in U.S., though recognized in specific cases (e.g., truck drivers and investment bankers)
• Social class is less important in the U.S. than in Europe; the extent of cleavage has declined in both places
![Page 16: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Race and Ethnicity
• Similarities and differences between blacks and whites are complex, but there is some evidence that they may be narrowing
• Latinos tend to identify as Democrats, though not as strongly as African Americans
![Page 17: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Table 7.4: African American and White Opinion
![Page 18: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Table 5.5: Changes in Racial Opinion
![Page 19: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Regional Differences
• White southerners were once more conservative than other regions regarding aid to minorities, legalizing marijuana, school busing, and rights of the accused
• Southerners are now significantly less Democratic than they were for most of the 20th century
![Page 20: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Figure 5.1: Whites in the South Leaving the Democrats
• Source: ICPSR National Election Studies, Cumulative Data File, 1952-1996
![Page 21: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Political Ideology
• Political ideology: a more or less consistent set of beliefs about what policies government ought to pursue
• The great majority of Americans do not think ideologically
• People may have strong predispositions even if they do not satisfy the condition of being “ideological”
![Page 22: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Figure 7.3: Ideological Self-Identification
The American Enterprise (March/April 1993): 84, Robert S. Ericson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion (New York: Longman, 2001), 101, citing surveys by CBS/New York Times.
![Page 23: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Liberals and Conservatives
• Economic policy: liberals favor jobs for all, subsidized medical care and education, increased taxation of the rich
• Civil rights: liberals favor strong federal action to desegregate schools, hiring opportunities for minorities, and strict enforcement of civil rights laws
• Public and political conduct: liberals are tolerant of protest demonstrations, favor legalization of marijuana, and emphasize protecting the rights of the accused
![Page 24: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
Table 7.6: How Liberals and Conservatives Differ
![Page 25: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Liberals and Conservative
• Pure liberals: liberal on both economic and personal conduct issues
• Pure conservatives: conservative on both economic and personal conduct issues
• Libertarians: conservative on economic issues, liberal on personal conduct issues
• Populists: liberal on economic issues, conservative on personal conduct issues
![Page 26: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Table 7.7: Policy Preferences of Democratic and Republican Voters
![Page 27: Chapter Seven Public Opinion Mr. Ognibene AP Government.](https://reader035.fdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022062315/5697c0221a28abf838cd3a1c/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Political Elites
• Political elites: those who have a disproportionate amount of some valued resource
• Elites influence public opinion by framing issues and stating norms
• But elite influence only goes so far; they do not define problems that are rooted in personal experience