Public Opinion

• Those attitudes held by a significant of people on matters of government and politics.– However this term as actually difficult to

define because many “publics” exist; each group of people with a different point of view is a separate public.

Family and Education

• Family is the most important tool of political socialization. Children, more often than not, develop the same political ideas their parents hold because so much time is spent together.

• Schools teach the value of the American political system and patriotism. Students spend 8 hours a day at school from ages 5-18.

Other Factors

• Occupation, race, gender, place of residence also influence one’s socialization.

• So does:– The mass media: those means of communication

that reach large, widely dispersed audiences simultaneously.

– Peer groups: made up of people with whom one regularly associates, including friends, neighbors and co-workers.

– Opinion leaders: any person who has an unusually strong influence on the views of others.

Measuring Public Opinion

• Measuring public opinion is difficult because data drawn from a sample population only represents the views of that “public.”

• In order to attempt to measure public opinion, political scientists use four main tools:– Elections, interest groups, the media, and personal

contacts– In a democracy, the voice of the people is supposed

to express itself through the ballot box.• Parties that win elections often claim a mandate

– the people have given them the power to carry out their campaign promises.

Interest Groups

• Are private organizations whose members share certain views and work to shape public policy.– Their members work to spread the opinions of

the group to make positive change.

Polls

• Polls are the best way to measure public opinion.– Public opinion poll – device that attempt to collect

information by asking people questions. The most accurate polls are based on scientific polling techniques.

• Straw poll – polls that seek to read the public’s mind simply by asking the same question of a large number of people.

• George Gallup developed the first polling system that used scientific methods to conduct a public opinion poll.

The Polling Process

1. Defining the Universe – who are we trying to measure?2. Constructing a Sample – how are we to measure our

universe? Ask all of them? Ask only a sample of them? Will the sample be random?

3. Preparing Valid Questions – Don’t use loaded questions, emotionally charged words, or terms that are difficult to understand.

4. Interviewing – how will the poll be communicated to the poll-takers.

5. Analyze and Report the Findings.

Evaluating Polls

• Pollsters have trouble measuring three things:– Intensity – the strength of feeling with which an

opinion is held– Stability – the relative permanence or

changeableness of opinion– Relevance – how important a particular opinion is to

the person who holds it.

• “Bandwagon effect” – people want to be on the winning side, and will often say they support the side that is currently perceived to be ahead.

The Mass Media

• 4 major forms of the mass media– Television – 98% of all households have a TV.

Principal source of the news for 80% of the population.

– Newspapers – The world’s principal source of political information from 1704-1960. There are still over 10,000 newspapers published in the United States.

– Radio/Internet – is conveniently available in places where TV is not.

– Magazines – 12,000 magazines published in the U.S. with a combined circulation of 10 million copies a week.

The Media and Public Policy

• The two areas that the media are most visible are in:– The public agenda: the media informs the

public about the important issues.– Electoral politics: the media has made

political candidates less reliant on their party for spreading the message because television allows them to appeal directly to the people.