Chapter 6 example #49848

senior citizens tend to oppose increases in public school funding.

religion

a poll based on a random sample of constituents

sampling error

less accurate than the idea that Americans form many publics, which differ greatly in such things as the level of attention they pay to politics.

are openly expressed

the size of the sample and whether the sample was selected from the population by a random method.

a. question order. b. unrepresentative samples. c. respondents' lack of knowledge or interest in the issue. d. poorly worded questions.

normally cumulative; political beliefs attained earlier in life tend to be retained to a substantial degree.

major upheaval.

political socialization.

government committees that would decide which elderly patients would receive life-saving treatment and which would not.

an ideology.

Only a minority of Americans can be classified as true ideologues.

they believe that government should be used to promote traditional values.

George W. Bush attempted to privatize aspects of social security, only to back down in the face of determined resistance.

On high-profile issues particularly, public opinion tends to affect policy to a greater degree than policymakers' agendas affect public opinion.

Political socialization is cumulative, and is most heavily developed during childhood.

1948 Truman-Dewey.

church

the use of force to settle international disputes.

communists

Woodrow Wilson

American workers lacked sufficient class consciousness.

F

factory workers

the lack of crosscutting between groups

Their opinions tend to be atypical of the population as whole.

the sample requirements will be nearly the same.

the tendency of black candidates to receive fewer votes than the polls predicted.

effective government cannot be run by politicians that base their public opinions on poll results.

Republicans and Democrats

sets limits on government action.

Bush administration efforts to press the case for war

liberals and populists

religious right

Abraham Lincoln

a. Polls are the most relied-upon method of measuring public opinion. b. Polls can be erroneous at times. c. Most large news organizations have their own in-house polls. d. The Gallup pollsters have correctly predicted the winner of presidential elections most of the time since 1936.

non-opinion

young voters

3

the characteristic and deep-seated beliefs of a particular people about government and politics

peers

in both the economic and social spheres.

in the economic but not the social sphere.

populist

an emotional attachment to a political party.

partisanship.

most individuals are reluctant to speak out against dominant opinion.

A first characteristic of political socialization is that most people's political outlook is formed uncritically during childhood. A second characteristic of political socialization is that its effect is cumulative; political orientations usually grow firmer with age. Political socialization takes place through a number of agents of socialization, both primary and secondary. Primary agents include the family, school, and church, with family being the most powerful of all agents of socialization. Secondary agents have a less intimate relationship with the individual, and include peers, the media, and leaders.

The text outlines three of the major frames of reference through which Americans form their political opinions. Party identification is the first, referring to a person's ingrained sense of loyalty to a political party. It often remains stable through adulthood, but can be influenced or changed by the issues or candidates of the moment. Political ideology is another major frame of reference, and refers to an individual's coherent set of political beliefs (if they have them). In the United States, this can be broadly broken down into groups such as economic or social liberals or conservatives, libertarians, or populists. A third broad frame of reference is group thinking, in which individuals see politics through the lens of a group affinity. There are many different kinds of groups, including those defined by religion, economic class, region, race and ethnicity, gender, and age.

Political ideology is a consistent pattern of opinion on particular issues that stems from a basic underlying belief or beliefs. Most Americans do not meet the test of consistency in their political preference on particular issues, so it has been concluded that no more than a fourth of Americans can be considered to have a true ideology. However, most Americans can be said to have ideological leanings, such as social or economic liberal or conservative, libertarian, or populist. Ideology can be a useful way of looking at how Americans think about government and in describing changes in public attitudes.

The American public has a generally low level of knowledge about politics and public affairs. Even citizens with college educations routinely flunk current affairs tests administered by pollsters. Yet the public's lack of information about specific issues is not as significant a factor as some might perceive. Citizens do not necessarily need to be well informed about a particular issue to have a reasonable opinion about it. The fact that the citizen is unaware of the government's economic policy options would not render his or her opinion irrelevant.

Public opinion has a powerful though inexact influence on government. Although public opinion rarely determines exactly what government will do, public opinion serves to constrain the policy choices of officials. Some policy actions are beyond the range of possibility because the public will not accept change in existing policy or will not support policy that clearly conflicts with basic values. Many policy issues are sufficiently complex to limit public understanding of their intricacies, and thus elected officials may not be able to rely on wider public opinion. In addition, officials must anticipate the public response to policy, since people may react negatively to policies that fail or are followed by unfavorable developments. Evidence indicates officials are reasonably attentive to public opinion, particularly on highly visible issues of public policy.

the politically revelant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly

the learning porcess required for political orientations

where political socialization takes place

interact closely and regularly with the individual

less intimate connection

the ability of the media to influence what is on people's minds

a person's ingrained sense of loyalty to a political party (partisanship)

people selectively choose from incoming information those aspects that support what they already believe

a general belief about the role and purpose of the government

people who believe that the government should use its power to help the economically disadvantaged

people who believe that the government should leave the distribution of economic benefits largely to the workings of the free market

belief that lifestyle choices such as same-sex marriage and abortion should be left to the individual

use the government to promote traditional values

economic liberal and cultural conservative

economic conservative and cultural liberal

a sample is interviewed in order to estimate the opinions of a whole population

invalid responses because people are not informed