Transcript What is Public Opinion?

Chapter 18
Interest
Groups
& Public
Opinion
Interest Group Organization
• A group of people
united to promote a
special interest. and
influence the gov’t
• They support
candidates, try to
influence lawmakers
• A bridge from
people to gov’t
Why do they exist?
• What we want.
• Strength in numbers.
• Economic self interest
(Labor Unions, Business
groups)
• Promoting beliefs, values,
attitudes
• AKA “Pressure Groups”
Such as…
Public Interest Groups
• More general. Defend Public Interests
as a whole. As they see them.
They Create Policy
• How can policy be
affected?
• Advertising, to
create public
support.
• Court action
• Amendments
• Bribes!!!
What else do they do?
• Provide information
• Actually provide drafts of bills
• Gain Support by…
• Media campaigns
• Letter writing
Lobbying & Lobbyists
• Direct contact with lawmakers to
influence their opinions.
• Interest group reps are lobbyists
• Anyone employed by a client, spending
more than one contact on behalf of the
client, spent more than 20% of their time
working for client.
• Many former gov’t officials. Why?
PACs and Political Campaigns.
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Political Action Committees represent corporations,
labor unions, or interest groups.
Provide candidates with contributions.
Pacs created in 1976, dramatic increase $59M to 596M
in 2004
Incumbents receive the lion’s share.
Financing Political Campaigns
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Dependence on media campaigning means a
greater dependence on campaign
contributions.
As campaigns have focused on advertising,
the cost of campaigning has skyrocketed.
In 2000, candidates spent more than $3
billion.
Without the ability to raise large sums of
money for campaign costs, candidates have
little chance of winning.
Federal Election Campaign Act 1971
• Limited spending on advertising and required
disclosure on contributions of over $100.
• Unions and corporations could no longer make
direct contributions - had to set up Political
Action Committees (PACs).
• Voluntary income-tax check-off for
contributing to presidential campaigns was
created.
Financing the Campaign
• Buckley v. Valeo.
•1971 act had placed limits on how
much money a candidate could spend
on his or her own campaign.
•1976, the Supreme Court ruled that this
provision was unconstitutional.
The Federal Election Campaign Act
of 1974:
• Created Federal Election Commission.
• Public funding of presidential elections.
• Limited presidential campaign spending for those
who accept.
• Placed limits on contributions. Individual $1,000
per candidate per election, with a maximum total
of $25,000.
• PACs limited to $5,000 per candidate per election.
(Excluding “soft money” contributions to the
political parties for “party building” activities.)
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
• The act banned soft money contributions to the
national party committees.
• Limitations on issue advocacy advertisements and
increased the individual contribution limit to $2000
(from $1000).
• Consequences of the 2002 Act.
• One impact of the act will be that it will hurt the
ability of the political parties to help the candidates
running on the party label.
Beyond the Limits.
• Problems caused by soft money, which allow
contributors to skirt limits but still influence the
election.
• Contributions to Political Parties.
• The legislation of 1971and 1974 placed no restrictions
on money given to parties for voter registration, general
publicity about a party’s positions, and the national
conventions.
• Contributions for such purposes were called “soft
money,” as opposed to regulated “hard money.”
Jailed Lobbyists
Soft Money.
• Independent Expenditures.
• It was soon discovered that it was legal to make
independent expenditures not coordinated with
the candidates’ campaigns.
• Issue Advocacy.
• Interest groups buy advertising that advocates
positions on issues and either attack or praise
candidates on the basis of the issues.
• As long as no candidates are actually endorsed,
the tactic is legal.
What is Public Opinion?
• The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs
shared by some portion of the adult population
• there is no one public opinion because there
are many different “publics”
• consensus – when there is general agreement
among the citizenry on an issue
• divisive opinions – when public opinion is
polarized between two quite different positions
Consensus and Divisive
© 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™
Qualities of Public Opinion
• Intensity – the strength of a position for
or against an issue
• an intense minority often can win on issue
over a less intense majority
• Fluidity – the extent to which public
opinion changes over time
• Stability – the extent to which public
opinion remains constant over a period
of time
Qualities of Public Opinion (cont.)
• relevance – the extent to which an issue
is of concern at a particular time
• issues become relevant when they are
viewed as of direct concern to daily life
• political knowledge – the extent to
which individuals are aware of an issue
Polling Techniques
• random sample – each member of the
population has an equal chance of being
selected for the sample
• quota sample – a less accurate technique
wherein polling organizations predetermine
the characteristics of the needed sample, and
then find respondents with those
characteristics to fill the slots
• sampling error – the difference between a
sample’s results and the result
Problems with Polls
• polls as a “snapshot in time” of
potentially shifting opinions
• presidential election polls in 1948 and
1980
• sampling errors
• unscientific polls: Internet, phone-in
• wording of questions
• influence of interviewer
• high nonresponse rates
Political Socialization
• the process by which individuals acquire
political beliefs and attitudes
• How are Americans socialized?
• Family
• the most important force in socialization
• parents communicate preferences to children
• children want to please parents and are
receptive to their views
Political Socialization,
• School
• learn patriotism, structure of government
and how to form positions on issues
• the more education a person has, the more
likely he or she will be interested in politics
• Peers
• most likely to shape political opinions
when peer groups are politically active
Political Socialization, (cont.)
• Religious Influence
• religious groups are likely to transmit
definite political preferences
•Roman Catholics, Jewish  more liberal
•Protestants  more conservative
Political Socialization, (cont.)
• Economic Status and Occupation
• poorer people  more inclined to favor
social-welfare programs, more
conservative on social issues, more
isolationist
• richer people  conservative economically
Political Socialization, (cont.)
• Influence of Political Events
• events impact people’s political attitudes
• when the effect of an event is long-lasting
and impacts the preferences of those who
came of age at that time, it is called a
generational effect
•Great Depression, World War II and the
Vietnam War
Political Socialization,
• Opinion Leaders’ Influence
• leaders sometimes influence the
opinions of others
• Media Influence
• newspapers, television, radio and the
Internet influence public opinion
Political Socialization,
• Demographic Traits
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African Americans  more liberal
whites  comparatively conservative
younger adults  more liberal
older adults  comparatively conservative
• The Gender Gap – the difference between the
% of votes a candidates receives from women
versus from men
• women tend to vote more Democrat
• men tend to vote more Republican
Political trust
© 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™
Problem trends
© 2004 Wadsworth Publishing / Thomson Learning™
Discussion
• How can public opinion influence politicians
and other government officials?
• How much should public opinion influence
government decisions?
• In what ways are political socialization agents
working on you now?
• How much does school shape political views?