AP Government: Chapter 5-Public Opinion

Warm-Up

What message is this ad attempting to send to the viewer? Does this change your opinion of Hillary Clinton? If so, how? If not, why not?

Why is there a contradiction? Constitution designed to LIMIT public

opinion and how they could influence the government. Institutions like federalism and checks and balances designed to inhibit public opinion.

Government designed to achieve broad goals and preserve liberty, not necessarily do what people want

Does “public opinion” reflect only those really interested in politics?

How do we know what public opinion is?

Public Opinion: Measurement

What does it take to measure public opinion? Reliability and validity Saliency Unbiased questions Significant numbers & unbiased

samples Informed public

Problems of public opinion Do people know what the issues really are?

Can the “average voter” tell you what is in a piece of legislation?

Polls can be manipulated with relative ease to possibly obtain a pre-determined result based on how a question is phrased.

Public Opinion easily swayed by events or how events are framed in the media

What matters-What is known or how people feel?

Qualities of Public Opinion

1. Intensity- strength of position2. Fluidity- ability to interpret position3. Stability- extent to which public opinion

stays constant4. Relevance- extent to which an issue is of

concern at a particular time5. Political knowledge- the more active and

knowledgeable someone is about politics6. Diversity-How do you get diverse sample?7. Direction-positive or negative

Political Socialization

What is political socialization?The process by which children learn about values, beliefs and attitudes of political culture.

What forces shape our political socialization?

Where does public opinion come from?

Are we “brainwashed” in terms of the right or wrong opinion to have?

Family (Parents) tend to be the best source and foundation of early political knowledge and opinion for most people.

Family has been weakening as a source for decades, however, due to greater access and control of information

Divergence from a family’s ideology, if it does occur, tends to begin around college.

Religion and political opinion Tends to reflect social status (Where people are

located in terms of class and power) Catholics and Jews more liberal along with

African-American churches (Methodist and Baptist, generally) as those immigrant groups were traditionally poor and would benefit from government programs favored by liberals

Rich churches (Generally Protestant) preaching to richer congregations tend to preach a more Conservative message, economically and socially

What a religion tends to emphasize, social justice or social values, tends to be MOST important

“Christian Coalition”

Emphasizes a fundamentalist (literal) interpretation of Christianity and the Bible.

Deeply opposed to abortion, gay marriage and support school prayer

HUGELY influential coalition within Republican Party via from 1980s to 2000s

Mobilized voters and fundraised at grassroots, church-level

Still highly influential in Republican Party

The “Gender Gap”

The idea that men favor one party and women favor another

Men tend to favor Republicans and Women favor Democrats due to difference on issues like gun control and health care.

Was HUGELY decisive in 2012 as Obama won the women’s vote; However, Obama won single women and Romney won married women but the former voted in higher numbers in key states.

Gender Gap in 2012 Vote Is Largest in Gallup's HistoryObama wins women's vote; Romney has eight-point edge among menby Jeffrey M. Jones

President Barack Obama won the two-party vote among female voters in the 2012 election by 12 points, 56% to 44%, over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, Romney won among men by an eight-point margin, 54% to 46%. That total 20-point gender gap is the largest Gallup has measured in a presidential election since it began compiling the vote by major subgroups in 1952.

Education and public opinion On balance, greater education leads to greater

liberal views, especially at elite schools. Elite Schools are MOST liberal (Ex. Harvard, Williams, UNC) and those with higher degrees (Ex. PhD) tend to be more politically liberal

People with more education are more informed and university students tend to be taught and governed by more liberal professors and administrators that favor intellectual freedom and diversity

Political Liberalism strongest in humanities and social sciences (Ex. English, Sociology)

What divides public opinion? Class IS a strong dividing line as the poor tend to

identify more with Democrats though strong majorities of Americans claim that they are “middle class.”

Race and Ethnicity: Minorities (African-Americans and Hispanics in particular) identify more strongly with Democrats However, political leaders of these

communities are more liberal politically than their racial group. Solid majorities of African-American oppose gay marriage but political leaders support it almost uniformly, for example.

What divides public opinion? Region: Southerners, particularly

white southerners, strongly identify with Republicans and oppose gay marriage and marijuana legalization. Coastal states (California, Massachusetts, etc.) deeply Democratic and feel otherwise.

Age: Young people more strongly identify with Democrats while the Elderly tend to identify as Republicans, since 2007.

Political Ideology What is Political Ideology?

Coherent & consistent set of political beliefs about who ought to rule, the principles the rulers ought to obey, and what policies the rules ought to pursue.

Consistent Attitudes How do political scientists measure a

person’s ideology? Frequency of describing choices Consistency of preferences over time

People can have strong dispositions even without these criteria.

Plurality crosses traditional borders…considers themselves “moderate.” Americans are more polarized than ever and

are viewing themselves as “moderates” less and less since 1964.

http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/

Liberal vs. ConservativeEarly 1800s: Liberals favored

personal & economic freedom from the gov’t. Conservatives favored restoration of power to traditional sources.

New Deal Metamorphosis: Liberals favored an activist gov’t. Conservatives favored reaction & prevention to this activism with states’ rights and individual economic choice.

Liberal vs. ConservativeToday’s meanings are imprecise and changing.

Three useful categories in gauging political ideologies: Economic Policy Civil Rights (Ex. Gay Marriage)

Public & Political Conduct

Political ElitesDefinition?

Those with a disproportional amount of a valued resource

Other Characteristics? Display greater ideological consistency

Have access to more info. & have more interest in politics

Peers reinforce this consistency

“New Class” of Political Elites

Those advantaged by the power, resources, and growth of government

How is this different? Examples of elites outside of

government? Ideology? Source of power? Directly benefit from the gov’t. High levels of schooling

Influencing Public Policy Elites influence public policy 2 ways:

Raise and Frame political issues State norms to settle issues & define

policy options Limits of influence

Don’t define economic, crime & other problems of personal experience

Elites contradict & limit each other