Transcript chapter11 - RobbsHistorians

Influencing Government
Chapter 11
Public Opinion
(Section 1)
• Public opinion includes the ideas and
attitudes that most people hold about
elected officials, candidates, government,
and political issues.
• The President needs to support of the
public to carry out Presidential programs.
Public Opinion (Cont.)
• Public opinion is not uniform.
• Many shades of opinions exist on most
issues.
• Enough people must hold a particular
opinion to make government officials listen
to them.
• People’s backgrounds and life
experiences influence their opinions.
Mass Media
• Television, radio, newspapers, magazines,
recordings, movies, and books are called
the mass media because they
communicate broadly to masses of
people.
• Issues and events the mass media cover
and the way they cover them affect
people’s attitudes.
Public Officials
• Political leaders and public officials
influence public opinion.
• They state their views in the mass media,
hoping to persuade people to support their
positions.
Interest Groups
• People who share a point of view about an
issue may form an interest group.
• The group works to persuade people
and officials toward their point of view.
Why does public opinion help
shape the decisions of every
president?
Components of Public Opinion
• Experts often describe public opinion in terms of
direction, intensity, and stability.
1. Direction refers to whether opinions on
a topic are positive or negative, for or against.
2. Intensity refers to the strength of opinion on an
issue.
3. Stability means how firmly people hold their
views.
• Public opinion on candidates is relatively
unstable.
Measuring Public Opinion
• Election results give a broad measure of public
opinion.
• A more accurate measure comes from asking
people to answer questions in a survey, or
public opinion poll.
• Elected officials use polls to monitor public
opinion.
• Most presidents have a pollster–a specialist
whose job is to conduct polls regularly.
Random Samples
• Polling organizations question people
selected at random from all over the
United States.
• To present a fairly accurate picture of
public opinion, a sample must reflect the
characteristics of the entire population.
• The questions must be fair and unbiased.
Is this a biased or unbiased
question:
• Don’t you agree that President Bush did the
right thing by sending U.S. troops into Iraq?
• Should President Bush have sent U.S.
troops into Iraq?
• Do you agree or disagree with this
statement: "There is a need for stricter gun
laws."
• Since cigarettes are dangerous and have
deadly side effects such as cancer wouldn't
you agree that smoking should be
controlled to save the lives of many?
Polls and Democracy
• Some people believe polls support
democracy by allowing officials to
keep in touch with citizens’ opinions
on issues.
• Critics claim polling makes officials
more concerned with following the
public than in leading.
GALLUP POLL
Polls and Democracy
• Many people worry that polls distort
elections.
• During campaigns, the media constantly
report who is ahead at the moment, taking
the focus off the issues. Real Clear Politics
• Also, some people may decide not to vote
if they think the outcome has been
determined.
To get a fairly accurate picture of
public opinion, who should pollsters
include in their polls?
Review
The question of whether people support or
oppose tax cuts falls under which feature
of public opinion?
• A. stability
• B. unity
• C. direction
• D. intensity
How firmly people hold their views and how
likely they are to change their opinions on
a topic describes which feature of public
opinion?
• A. stability
• B. direction
• C. intensity
• D. unity
A poor, elderly person who lives in a small
town and supports more government
social services programs is an example of
which influence on a person’s public
opinion?
• A. public officials
• B. mass media
• C. interest groups
• D. personal background
Television, radio, newspapers, magazines,
recordings, movies, and books are called
• A. mass media.
• B. electronic media.
• C. print media.
• D. white noise.
What term refers to the strength of opinion
on a given issue?
• A. intensity
• C. purity
• B. stability
• D. direction
Most presidents employ a_______ whose
job is to conduct polls regularly.
• A. poll bearer
• B. pollster
• C. poll sitter
• D. polity
A well-constructed poll question should be
• A. unbiased.
• C. stable.
• B. manipulated.
• D. biased.
THE MASS MEDIA
(Section 2)
• The mass media influence politics and
government.
• They also form a link between the people
and elected officials.
• Newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and
books are print media.
• Radio, television, and the Internet are
electronic media.
Mass Media
• The media are businesses that operate for
a profit.
• They run the news they think will attract
the largest audience.
• Television is the most important medium
for politics because it reaches the most
people.
• However, print media provide deeper
coverage.
Mass Media: The Internet
• Internet users can get information
whenever they wish.
• They can also get more information than
brief radio or television reports provide.
Why do media outlets run the news
they think will attract the largest
audience?
ANSWER: The media are private
businesses run to make a profit. The
larger the audience they can attract, the
more money they
can charge for advertising.
Media’s Impact on Politics and
Government
• The problems that receive the most time,
money, and effort from government
leaders make up the public agenda.
• The media have great influence on which
problems governments consider important.
Media impact on Presidential
Elections
• The modern media enable people with
little political experience to run for office.
• The media can help or derail a candidates
campaign.
Media and Elections
DEAN SCREAM!
Elected Officials
• Elected officials and the press need one
another, yet they often clash.
• Elected officials want the media to show
them as hardworking, effective leaders.
• With the help of press secretaries, they
hold news conferences, give interviews,
and stage media events.
Leak! OOPS!?
• Officials may secretly pass on, or leak,
information to friendly reporters.
• Leaks allow them to test public reaction
before deciding whether to publicly move
ahead with a proposal or to quietly drop it.
• Leaks benefit reporters by allowing them
to report “inside” information.
Watchdog Role
• The mass media play a “watchdog” role.
• By exposing government misconduct, they
serve both their interests and the public
interest.
• Recently journalists have begun looking
for scandal in officials’ private as well as
public lives.
• Critics say this practice will drive good
people out of politics.
Media and National Security
• There is tension between
the American citizens’
need for information and
the need for government
to keep secrets
to protect national
security.
• The government can
control information the
media report by
classifying it as secret
and limiting coverage of
military actions.
Protecting the Media
• Democracy requires a free flow of information
and ideas.
• The First Amendment protects freedom of the
press, which today includes all media.
• The Supreme Court has ruled that freedom of
the press includes freedom from prior restraint,
or government censorship of material before it is
published.
• Journalists can report what they want,
even if it is unpopular or embarrassing
to officials.
Protecting the Media
• Freedom of the press does not allow
reporters to publish false information
that will harm someone’s reputation. This
is libel.
• The Supreme Court ruled that to win a
libel suit, public officials must prove
malice–that the publisher knew the
material was false or showed reckless
disregard for the truth.
Protecting the Media
• The government has the power to decide
who gets access to the limited number of
airwaves available for radio and television
broadcasting.
• The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) cannot censor broadcasts, but it
can penalize stations that violate
its rules.
Review
Professional media assistants who hold
news conferences and give interviews on
behalf of elected officials are referred to as
• A. press secretaries.
• B. public reporters.
• C. media officials.
• D. broadcast journalists.
The most important medium for American
politics that is in 98 percent of American
homes is the
A. radio.
B. newspaper.
C. television.
D. Internet.
Elected officials sometimes information to
the press to test public reaction to an idea
or policy.
• A. falsify
• B. skew
• C. leak
• D. dump
The mass media plays an important_______
role by exposing government misconduct.
• A. leak
• B. spotlight
• C. intelligence
• D. watchdog
Interest Groups
(Section 3)
• Interest groups form to promote a shared
viewpoint.
• By pooling their resources, members can
increase their chances of influencing
decision makers.
• The First Amendment protects the right to
belong to interest groups by guaranteeing
the right to assemble peacefully and to
petition the government.
Economic Interest Groups
• Groups based on economic interests are
some of the most powerful.
• The Chamber of Commerce, one of the
largest, promotes free enterprise.
• Others, such as the Tobacco Institute,
represent specific types of businesses.
Economic Interest Groups
• Labor unions work for the economic
interests of workers.
• The largest, the AFL-CIO, is an alliance of
labor unions.
• Professionals, such as doctors and
lawyers, have their own interest groups.
Other Interest Groups
• People have also organized to promote an
ethnic group (the NAACP, for example),
age group (AARP), or
gender (NOW).
• Interest groups also work for special
causes, such as protecting nature (the
Sierra Club).
Public Interest Groups
• Public interest groups support causes
that affect the lives of Americans in
general, rather than just the special
interests of their own members.
• For example, Common Cause promotes
laws to control pollution and protect
consumers.
Influencing Government
• Public policy is the course of action the
government takes in response to an issue
or problem.
• The primary goal of interest groups is to
influence public policy.
Election Activities
• Interest groups back candidates who
agree with their beliefs.
• Many form political action committees
(PACs) that use money from members
to support candidates.
Going to Court!
• Interest groups also try to influence public
policy by bringing court cases
• A group may use the courts to argue
that a law or government policy is
unconstitutional.
Lobbyist
• Lobbyists are representatives of
interest groups who contact government
officials directly to influence their policy
making.
• Lobbyists understand how government
functions.
• They know where to go and whom to
see.
• They know how to make friends and talk
•
•
•
•
Why might a lawmaker want to
interact with a lobbyist?
Lawmakers need information about
issues. Lobbyists supply it.
They suggest solutions to problems.
They sometimes draft bills for
lawmakers to consider and testify in
hearings on bills.
Once laws are enacted, lobbyists help
to see that the laws are carried out,
enforced, and stand up in court.
Regulation on Interest Groups
• Laws regulate the activities of interest
groups to prevent abuses, such as winning
lawmakers’ votes by offering fancy meals
and gifts.
Regulation
• The Federal Election Campaign Act limits
the amount PACs may contribute to
candidates for national office.
• The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act
requires lobbyists to register and to
disclose who hired them, how much they
are paid, and how they spend money
related to their work.
Regulation
• These laws are not very effective.
• They apply only to people who spend most
of their time lobbying.
• Also, the laws provide no means
of enforcement.
Regulation
• Laws require a waiting period before
former government officials can
become lobbyists.
• The purpose is to prevent ex-public
officials from taking unfair advantage
of their insider knowledge and
friendships on behalf of interest
groups.
• These laws have also proved
Regulation
• Critics claim that campaign
contributions give interest groups
improper influence over officeholders.
• Others point out that membership in
interest groups with skilled lobbyists
give citizens a way to increase their
influence.
Techniques of Interest Groups
• All interest groups want to influence public
opinion both to increase their
memberships and to convince people
of the rightness of their cause.
• Many use direct mail to recruit members.
• They target potential members by using
subscriber or membership mailing lists
from magazines or groups with similar
views.
Techniques of Interest Groups
• Interest groups advertise on radio and
television.
• They may organize protests or public
events to get media coverage.
• To promote their views, interest groups
may use propaganda techniques such
as endorsements, card stacking, the
bandwagon, glittering generalities,
symbols, “just plain folks,” and namecalling.
Review
_________ groups support causes that
affect the lives of Americans
• in general.
• A. Economic interest
• B. Public interest
• C. Watchdog
• D. Mass media
• The idea of the appeal is to make people
think a candidate is just like them.
• A. bandwagon
• B. endorsement
• C. plain-folks
• D. aw-shucks
The technique is an attempt to turn people
against a candidate or idea by using an
unpleasant label or description.
• A. endorsement
• B. name-calling
• C. bandwagon
• D. glittering generality
Which propaganda technique uses
statements that sound good but are
essentially meaningless?
• A. endorsements
• B. stacked cards
• C. glittering generalities
• D. just plain folks
Which propaganda technique presents only
one side of the issue, often by distorting
facts?
• A. symbols
• B. the bandwagon
• C. name-calling
• D. stacked cards
• One of the lobbyist’s most important
resources is
• A. information.
• B. good public relations.
• C. political contacts.
• D. public support.