Chapter 6 Public Opinion I. Political Ideologies a. an Ideology

8/14/2019 Chapter 6 Public Opinion I. Political Ideologies a. an Ideology

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iv. Three great waves of immigration to the US1. Before the Civil War northwest Europeans2. After the Civil War southern and eastern Europeans3. After World War II Hispanics and Asians4. the 1980s saw the largest number of immigrants of any decade in American

history

e. America has long been considered a melting pot, but many people would now speak of anew minority majority

i. They feel that America will eventually cease to have a white, generally Anglo-Saxon majority

ii. Largest component of the new minority majority is currently the African Americanpopulation (1 in 8 Americans)

iii. If current immigration trends continue, Hispanics will outnumber the AfricanAmerican population sometime early in the 21st Century

iv. The problem of what to do about illegal immigration is of particular concern to theHispanic community.

1. As of June 1987, the Simpson-Mazzoli Act requires all employers todocument the citizenship of their employees

2. Act causes concern among immigrant leaders who worry that employersmight decline to hire members of some groups rather than risk non-compliance with the law

3. Act also granted amnesty to illegal aliens who had lived in the US sinceJanuary 1982

v. The fastest growing ethnic group in the US, led by a new class of professionalworkers looking for greater opportunity, is the Asian population

1. Asian Americans are the most highly skilled immigrant group in Americanhistory

2. Best off of Americas minority groups3. 37% over the age of 25 have a college degree (twice the national average)

vi. It is estimated that all the minority groups combined should pass the 50% mark by

the middle of this centuryf. Demographic changes are associated with political changes

i. The regional shift1. over the last 50 years, much of the growth of Americas population has

been centered in the South and the West movement TO Sun Belt statessuch as Florida, California, and Texas FROM rust belt states ofPennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan

2. Process of reapportionment occurs every ten years, causing a massivechange in representation of states New York has lost about 1/3 of itsRepresentatives over the last 50 years.

ii. The Graying of America1. Fastest growing age group in America is citizens over 65

2. By 2020, there will be only two working Americans for every person overthe age of 65

a. Social Security is the second most costly program in the Americanbudget more elderly, less workersequals less money in SocialSecurity

b. Gray Power strong coalition of the elderly voting againstprograms that would take money and benefits away from them

III. How Americans learn about politicsa. Political Socialization


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i. Process through which a person acquires knowledge, a set of political attitudes,and forms opinions about the political system and other social issues

ii. Only a small portion of this process is formal learning, informal learning is muchmore important

iii. Agents of socialization are numerous1. family

a. important because of its monopoly on two crucial resources in theearly years time and emotional commitment

b. although many children like to think of themselves as independentminded, you can fairly accurately predict their political leanings byknowing the tendencies of their parents

2. mass mediaa. referred to as the new parentb. television, without a doubt, is the most common source of political

informationc. recent studies have attributed the lack of political knowledge of the

youth of the 90s to their media consumption habits older peoplepay more attention to the news than younger people

3. Schoolsa. Governments throughout the world use schools as an attempt to

instill a commitment to the basic values of their systemb. Most obvious intrusion of the government into political socialization

b. Politics is a lifelong activityi. Aging increases ones political participation and the strength of their party affiliationii. Political behavior is to some degree a learned behavioriii. Governments largely aim their socialization efforts at the young because ones

political orientations grow firmer as one grows olderIV. Public Opinion and Policy

a. Public opinion is what Americans believe (and think they believe) about politics and publicpolicy.

i. Fluctuates over timeii. President usually has the greatest success in shaping public opinion in the area of

foreign policy during times of national crises, public opinion and support for thePresident usually increases

b. Characteristics of public opinioni. Saliency the degree to which a particular issue is important to an individual or

groupii. Intensity how strongly people feel about a particular issueiii. Stability public opinion on issues changes over timeiv. Efficacy the degree to which people think that they can change government

c. How public opinion is formedi. Family

ii. Schooliii. Opinion leaders

1. people who have more than the usual amount of influence on the attitudesof others

2. politicians, members of the press, professionalsiv. Mass mediav. Group influence the closer the reference group (a group whose views serve as

guidelines to an individuals opinion), the greater the impact on a person


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1. Primary group group that the person comes into face to face contact withon a daily basis

a. Friendsb. Familyc. Office associatesd. Social club

2. Secondary group organization or group of people that may influence anindividuals opinion

a. Labor unionsb. Fraternal groupsc. Professional groupsd. Religious groups

vi. Other factors that establish public opinion1. education level

a. more education = more liberal viewsb. better educated tend to be better informed, more likely to vote, and

are more tolerant of opposing views than their uneducatedcounterparts

2. race/ethnicitya. racial and ethnic groups that tend to have lower income levels tend

to be more liberal than other Americansb. Blacks and many Hispanics (except Cubans), are more likely to

support liberal social programs3. religion

a. Jews and African-American Protestants are generally the mostliberal of religious groups

b. Catholics tend to be liberal, but many are conservative on socialissues

c. Devout white Protestants tend to be more conservative (especiallyin the South, where white Protestants who attend church regularly

are among the strongest supporters of the GOP)4. gender women are more liberal than men5. income level

a. Higher income bracket = liberal on racial and sexual equality, butconservative on social welfare goals (it would take money)

b. Lower income bracket = conservative on all issues except socialwelfare (b/c they need the programs)

c. Poor white voters are LEAST likely to vote in a regular election6. region differences arise from different economic and social interests

a. The South tends to vote heavily Republican due to ChristianConservatives

b. Ethnic mix and heavily unionized East Coast tends to vote

Democratic (most liberal region of the country)c. The Midwest tends to be a mixture of the two ideologies because of

heavy union activity and farmersd. The West Coast, traditionally liberal, has moved towards a strong

mixture due to migration patternsd. Measuring Public Opinion

i. Public opinion polling was first created by George Gallup in 1932ii. Polls rely on a sample of the population

1. group to be measured is called the population


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2. pollster takes a random samplea. key to accuracy of opinion polls is random samplingb. there is always a certain amount of risk of inaccuracy involved,

known as the sampling errori. proper techniques must be followed to remain within the

margin of error

ii. typical poll of about 1000 to 1500 has a sampling error of +or 3 percent

iii. 1936, Literary Digestunderestimated the vote for PresidentFDR by 19 percent because the people they polled camefrom phone books and motor vehicle registration records.

iii. Most polling today is done on the phone with numbers selected through random-digit dialing

1. used by the media to project election winners before most votes have beencounted

2. criticized in presidential elections because the media may actually declare awinner before the polls have closed on the West Coast

iv. Pollsters will also use other types of samples (besides the random sample)

1. Cluster sampling several people from the same neighborhood areinterviewed, with the geographic area chosen at random

2. Quota sampling considered less reliable than a random sample, membersof a particular group are interviewed according to their proportion in thepopulation as a whole

v. Effects of polls in American democracy1. supporters believe that it is a tool by which policymakers can keep in touch

with the electorate2. critics feel that it makes politicians more concerned with following rather

than leading3. Emphasis on poll results sometimes has drowned out the issues of recent

presidential campaigns

4. polls have shown that people are more likely to recognize slogans from TVcommercials than famous political figures

e. Polls have revealed time and time again that the American public has a dismally low levelof political knowledge

i. Less than half of the public can name their representative in the House ofRepresentatives

ii. 14 percent of Americans in a 1998 survey could not even find their own country ona world map

V. How do Americans Participate in Politics?a. Americans have many different ways to participate in politics, but voting in presidential

elections is the most common form of participationb. The US has a participatory political culture (participation is not required), but only 49

percent voted in the 1996 election, and 67 percent in 2000.c. There are two main categories of participation

i. Conventional1. these are the widely accepted modes of influencing government

a. votingb. trying to persuade othersc. ringing doorbells for a petitiond. running for office


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2. Most adult Americans, when participating in politics, will vote in an election,but only a minority of people will do more than that.

ii. Unconventional activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civildisobedience, and even violence

d. Class, inequality, and participation

i. In the US, participation is a class-biased activity citizens of a higher socio-

economic status participate more than othersii. Minority groups are below average in terms of political participationiii. When blacks, Hispanics, and whites of the SAME educations and incomes are

compared, the minorities participate more in politics (they have more incentives tovote)

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Chapter 6 Public Opinion I. Political Ideologies a. an Ideology