Chapter 6 Public Opinion PDF

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Chapter 6 Public Opinion The Fact of the Day Only 17% of Americans today say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3%) or “most of the time” (14%). Source: Pew Research Center. April 11, 2019. “Public Trust in Government 1958 - 2019” Public opinion - aggression of people’s views about issues, situations, public figures, policies, etc. Public Opinion: Alternate Conceptualization ● Public Opinion: a reflection of majority bias ● Public Opinion: found in a clash of interests ● Public Opinion: a reflection of elite and media influence ● Public Opinion: as a fiction Sources of public opinion: where does it come from? ● Socialization ● Media ● Education ● Interests ● Generational Effects ● Elites Political Socialization & Media ● Political Socialization - learning about political life and internalizing its customs and rules. ● Childhood Socialization ○ Begins early: At school, in the home, and from the media ○ Teenagers who report watching media show a greater understanding of American values (e.g. free speech, etc.) than those who report watching less media ● Adult Socialization ○ Attitudes are stable ○ Learning supplements and refines earlier notions ○ Opinions, feelings, and evaluations from ones thinking about facts presented by the media ○ More acceptance of media's views of events outside the scope of one's life ○ Media influences familiar issues through mainstreaming Elites, Education, & Interests ● Elite discourse is linked to public opinion. ○ A sustained shift in discourse correlates with shift in public ● Education: higher education = more efficacy and a greater sense of civic duty ○ Highly educated are more crystallized ● Interests - where we live and what we do has an impact on our opinion

Chapter 6 Public Opinion

Measuring Public Opinion ● Focus groups: small groups of people brought together to talk about issues/candidates at length and in-depth ● Survey research: scientific design and administration of polls ○ Small samples of large populations can provide accurate pictures of those large populations ○ Random sampling: every individual in the population has an equal chance of being part of the sample ● Survey Research problems: ○ Sampling Error: The difference between the opinions expressed by the people in the sample and those held by the population. ○ Selection Bias: Occurs when the sample includes or excludes certain groups of people ● Ex. too many women or educated people in a sample may change the results of a survey ● Measurement Error: This occurs when the questions used on a survey are not measuring the attitude the researcher is trying to measure. Measurement Error Examples ● Confusing Questions ○ Double negatives ● Holocaust poll: “does it seem possible, or does it seem impossible to you that the Nazi extermination of Jews never happens?” ● Leading Questions (Push Polls) ○ Ex. Do you believe we should end violence on university campuses by…? ● Oversimplified Questions ○ Simple questions for complex beliefs Uniformed Public ● Civic IQ: People’s understanding of the political world in which they live and their ability to determine the significance of various situations ● Two types ○ Low civic IQ - lack of understanding ○ High civic IQ - understanding (elites) Civic IQ: Measurement ● Closed-ended factual knowledge questions ○ Ex. Do you happen to know the two Senators from your home state? ● Closed-ended: responses are disappointing and lead to the conclusion that citizens are poorly informed about politics ● Open-ended questions ○ Looking for a broad understanding of political processes ● Ex. Deep Water Horizon ○ On-line processing & running tally

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Chapter 6 Public Opinion

Idealism vs. Realism ● In reality, an ill-informed public is given, not a crisis ● Instead, citizens have meaningful beliefs. These beliefs are attitudes and they are subject to change based on the context surrounding a given situation Why is the public uninformed? ● Simple answer: few people have the time, money, energy, education and expertise to be informed about politics Characteristics of Public Opinion: A lack of Ideological Consistency ● Ideology: a system of beliefs in which one or more general organizing principles connect an individual’s views on a wide range of issues ● Liberal --------------- Conservative ● Only 15-20% of Americans are ideologically sophisticated (consistent) and use ideology to organize their political attitudes. ○ Political elites: well-structured ideologies ○ Non-elites: often lack ideological structure ● Inconsistent (examples) ○ Usually, we have divided government - Democratic Congress, Republican president, and Visa Versa ○ Most Americans think Congress is corrupt, but also think their own representation is doing a good job Monitorial Citizen ● The Monitorial Citizen ○ Do not know everything about issues facing the country - too many issues to keep track of ○ Just need to be informed enough to identify danger to the personal and public good ○ Will focus on issues at the local level (close to home), issues of personally relevant economic and social issues ○ Collective public opinion is sound ● What do we need to know? ○ Basic information about candidates in order to make a vote choice ○ Enough information about salient policy options to know when the system is not performing adequately ● Get their information from the NEWS MEDIA ● Collectively all levels of politics and all policy area are monitored Heuristics ● Decision-making shortcuts that can be used to judge the political world ○ Adopted the view of a trusted individual ○ Adopt the view of an individual with similar political affiliations

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Chapter 6 Public Opinion

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● Often referred to as low information rationality The news often serves as an important source of information Heuristic ○ Can weigh the arguments and accept the most appealing one (source of information) ○ Can adopt the view of trusted sources (heuristic)

Does public opinion matter? ● Many Americans are inconsistent with their issues positions, ideologically, politically and over time. ● What are the political implications of this inconsistency? ● Many Americans have low civic IQ

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