Chapter 6

Public Opinion,Political Socializationand Media

Public Opinion

Aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of adult population No one public opinion; many different

“publics” Key role in policymaking

Source of power Helps candidates identify issues

Sets limits on government action through public pressure

Measuring Public Opinion

Opinion poll = method of systematically questioning small, selected sample of respondents deemed representative of total population

Simple random sample = each member of population has equal chance of being selected for sample Most scientific; sample represents

population’s diversity in demography and opinion

Problems with Polls

“Snapshot in time” Classic errors: presidential election polls

(1948, Dewey beating Truman; 1980, Carter beating Reagan)

Sampling errors (e.g., biased samples, samples too small, etc.)

Question wording/influence of interviewer Unscientific polls (Internet, phone-in, push

polls) High non-response rates

Political Socialization

Process by which individuals acquire political beliefs, attitudes, and opinions

Agents/forces Family Education Peers Religion Economic Status/occupation/class Political Events Opinion Leaders Media/TV/Internet Demography/Age/Gender

Family

Most important agent Communication and Receptivity

Parents communicate preferences to children To please parents children receptive to their views

Important for party identification Class poll: How many of us have followed in

our parents’ footsteps when it comes to party identification?

Education and Peers

Education patriotism, structure of government,

how to form positions on issues more education, more likely

interested in politics Peers

most likely to shape political opinions when peer group is politically active

Religion Traditional view definite effect

Roman Catholics more liberal Protestants more conservative Jews more liberal

More recent trends Non-religious very liberal socially; mixed

economically Protestants and Catholics vary socially and

economically Social conservatism among Christians

Degree of religious commitment Conservative, evangelical, or fundamentalist

SES/Class Income strong predictor of liberalism or

conservatism Lower income

More likely to favor government action, benefit poor, promote economic equality

More likely to be socially conservative More likely to be Democrat Less likely to participate

Higher income More likely to oppose government action or economic equality More likely to be socially liberal More likely to be Republican or Libertarian More likely to participate

Socioeconomic status (SES) = best predictor of participation

Political Events Can shape people’s political

attitudes Generational effect = long-lasting

effect of events of particular time on political opinions of those who came of age at that time Great Depression World War II Vietnam War 9/11?

Media Media = channels of mass

communication Newspapers, television, radio and

Internet strongly influence public opinion

Certainly what to think about, known as agenda setting

Mainly private, for-profit corporations

Demography Region

South, Great Plains, and Rockies Republican West Coast and Northeast Democratic

Residence (urban/suburban/rural) Big cities liberal and Democratic Small communities conservative and Republican

Ethnicity African Americans more liberal Whites more conservative

Gender Men more likely to vote Republican Women more likely to vote Democratic

Political Process Public opinion

Source of power Identify key issues Shape campaigns

Political culture = collection of beliefs and attitudes toward government and political process Symbols and shared beliefs Provides environment of support (trust, legitimacy) Political trust = degree of trust in government and

political institutions Standard for evaluation of performance

Media and Politics Functions of Media

Entertainment Reporting news Identifying public problems

Setting public agenda = issues perceived by political community as meriting public attention and governmental action

Socializing generations Providing political forum Making profits

Enormous impact on politics

Television Most influential medium

(primary source for 90% of Americans) Big business Increase in news-type

programming Influence on political process Highly superficial, “Sound bites” Narrowcasting

Media and Campaigns

Advertising (very costly campaigns) Negative advertising works Reduces participation, increases cynicism

Management of news coverage spin = interpretation favorable to

candidate’s campaign spin doctors = campaign tries to convince

journalists of truth of favorable interpretation