Transcript Chapter Eight - Wilson School District

Chapter Eight
Public Opinion,
Participation,
and Voting
What is public opinion?
 Individual preferences (for candidates, issues, or institutions)
aka “Taking the pulse of the people”
 Distribution – proportion of the pop. that holds one
opinion as compared to those with opposing view or
no opinion at all
 Consensus – when a substantial percentage agree
 Polarization – occurs when a large portion of
opposing sides feels intensely about an issue
Responses
 Random sampling
 Open-ended questions
 Margin of error
 How you ask the question
 Just snapshots of opinions at a given point in time
Factors of Public Opinion
 Intensity – strength of people’s beliefs
 Latency – political opinions that exist but might
not be expressed; they may not have crystallized
or become publicized
 Salience – extent to which issues are relevant to
people
Political Socialization
When & how do we get our opinions?
 Childhood
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Nationalism (taught to love/respect our country)
 Sources
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Family / Peers
Schools
Mass Media
Religion
Racial/Ethnic attitudes
Family/Peers
 Most important
 Show political interest around age 10
 Strong correlation between party of parents
and party choice of children
 Family correlation is stronger than friends
(actual voting tends to be somewhere between the two)
Schools
 Part of school is to prepare students to be active
participants in government
 Recent studies show that schools are not doing a
good job of developing citizenship
 College students tend to be more political conscious
 Concern? - professors have too much political
influence on their students (teach - ins?)
Mass Media
 Exposure is selective, people choose what to
watch, read, & listen to
 Provides information and propaganda about
our society - can help shape attitudes and
opinions
 Can highlight what the important issues are
(This is why they could be a target of interest groups)
Religion/Ethnic/Racial
Backgrounds
 Can shape opinion and gives us a
generalization on how people view issues
 Dangerous to stereotype because not all will
fit into their assigned category
(not all African Americans will vote for Democrats, not all
Protestants are Republicans)
Stability and Change
 We are slow to change our minds about
things that matter to us (if at all)
 Opinions on basic morals & values remain
stable – more specific questions (not valuebased) can change substantially
Opinion and Public Policy
 Public opinion can lead to policy change
(ex:
Vietnam)
 Candidates use polls to determine where and
how (or even whether to) campaign
 Elected officials try to follow public opinion to
ensure reelection
Awareness and interest
 Politics - secondary priority for most (complicated and
difficult to understand or keep track)
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Attentive public – 25 % (tend to be better educated)
Nonvoters – 35% (political know-nothings)
Part-time citizens – 40%
 People are generally unaware of who represents them and what
they stand for
 Lack of interest has allowed for great influence to be held by few
people
Participation
 How can people influence government?
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Voting
Joining interest groups
Writing letters/emails
Calls
Protests
 Routine participation (patriotic duties/behaviors)
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Pledge, national anthem
Jury duty
Political discussions/complaints
Visit D.C. or state capitol
Voting
 Political activity of most Americans
 Historical qualifications for suffrage
 Religion & Property (eliminated by state legislatures)
 Race (eliminated by 15th)
 Gender (eliminated by 19th)
 Income (eliminated by 24th - banning poll tax)
 Literacy (eliminated by Voting Rights Act of 1965)
 Minimum age of 21 (eliminated by 26th)
Registration
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Required to prevent abuses & fraud
Creates a barrier to voting - impacts voting rates
Required in all states except North Dakota
6 states have same-day registration
30 days prior to an election in most others
Motor Voter Bill (1993) National Voter Registration Act
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people can register to vote while getting a driver’s license
Various public places also issue forms
Requires states to allow registration by mail
Has increased registration but not turnout
Turnout characteristics
 Highest - Presidential general elections
 Higher in general than primary; higher in primary than
special elections
 Higher in presidential general elections than in
midterm general elections and higher in presidential
primary elections than midterm primary elections
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Mid-terms select 1/3 of Senators and all
Representatives
 Higher when there are federal officials on ballots
 State elections have higher turnout than local
 1960 peak turnout – roughly 65%
Who votes?
 As education levels rise, so does voting
 Whites vote more than African-Americans, who vote
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more than Hispanic-Americans
Women vote more than men
Higher incomes & job status vote more than lower
Older people vote more
People 18-24 or 70+ have poor showing
Voting Choices
 Three main elements determine choice
 Party Identification
 Candidate
 Issues
Party
 Offers a sense of affiliation
 2/3 of “independents” tend to be partisan when voting
 Remains more stable than attitudes about issues or
ideology
 Historically, party has been primary reason for how
people vote
Candidates
 Candidate-centered era
(over the last few decades
more people are voting for a person and not a party)
 Candidate appeal – how voters feel about the
background, personality, & leadership
 Campaigns also focus on negative aspects of
opponents characteristics
Issues
 Not as significant - candidates often obscure
their positions
 Few voters focus solely on issues
 Economy - issue that is always important