Transcript The American People

The American
People
Chapter 6.1
• Objectives
– Identify demographic trends and their
impact on American politics
• Essential Question
– How does the positions of African
Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian
Americans, and Native Americans in the
American political and economic sphere
differ?
Defining Public Opinion
– Public opinion is the collective individual
attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of
adults.
– Private opinion becomes public opinion when
an individual takes some type of action to
express an opinion to others publicly.
– When there is general public agreement on an
issue, there is said to be a consensus. When
opinions are sharply divided, there is divisive
opinion.
Consensus vs. Divisive Opinion
• American demographics
– Demography is the science of human
population
– Census allows us to understand
demographic changes in the U.S.
– Every 10 years as per the Constitution
• The Immigrant Society
– African Americans face a legacy of racism
– Hispanics are the largest minority group,
faced with the problem of illegal
immigration
– Asian immigration has been driven by a
new class of professional workers.
• The American Melting Pot
– Melting pot- cultures, ideas, and people
blend as one
– Minority majority- minority groups together
will represent the majority in the mid 21st
century
• The Regional Shift
– Reapportionment:
The process of
reallocating seats in
the House of
Representatives
every 10 years on the
basis of the results of
the census.
• The Graying of America
– Fastest growing age group is over 65
– Potential drain on Social Security
• 1960- 5.7 workers per retiree
• Currently there are 3 workers per retiree
– “Gray Power”
Political Socialization
• Objectives
– Identify the agents of political socialization
• Essential Question
– How do American learn about politics?
– Political Socialization is the process by which
individuals acquire political beliefs and attitudes
– Agents of Political Socialization
• Family
–Time & emotional commitment
–Political leanings of children often
mirror their parent’s leanings
– The Mass Media
• Generation gap in TV news viewing
– School / Education
• Used by government to socialize the young into
the political culture
• Education produces better jobs and a more
positive view of government
Political Preferences
The candidates and political parties individuals decide
to support are influenced in part by certain
demographic and socioeconomic factors.
– Demographic Influences
• Education
• Economic Status
• Religious Influence: Denomination
• Religious Influence: Commitment
• Race and Ethnicity
• Gender
• Geography
Measuring Public
Opinion
Chapter 6.3
• Objectives
– Explain how polls are conducted and what
can be learned from them about American
Opinion
• Essential Question
– What components are necessary in order
to conduct an accurate opinion poll?
Measuring Public Opinion
– The History of Opinion Polls
• 1800s: Straw Polls
• By the 1930s modern, relatively accurate polling
techniques were developed by George Gallup,
Elmo Roper, and others.
– Sampling Techniques
• Representative Sampling
• The Principle of Randomness
– A purely random sample will be representative
within the stated margin of error. The larger
the sample of the population, the smaller the
margin of error.
Problems with Polls
– Sampling Errors
• The difference between a sample’s results and the
true result if the entire population had been
interviewed. Dangerous if the sample is too small
or if the polltakers do not know how to correct
for common biases in samples.
– Poll Questions
• Yes/no answers are a problem if the issue admits
to shades of gray. Often, people will attempt to
please the interviewer.
– Push Polls
• Attempts to spread negative statements about a
candidate by posing as a polltaker.
Gallup Poll Accuracy
Technology and Opinion Polls
– The Advent of Telephone Polling
• Far easier and less expensive than door-to-door
polling, and has become standard.
• Too many entities are conducting “polls” and
“market research.”
• Nonresponse Rates Have Skyrocketed
– Internet Polling
• Many voters are still not online
• There are many unscientific straw polls on the
Internet
• In time, nonresponse rates to Internet polling
could escalate like those of telephone polls.
Public Opinion and the
Political Process
– Political Culture and Popular Opinion.
• A set of attitudes and ideas about the nation and
government. Certain shared beliefs about
important values are considered the core of
American political culture. Values like liberty,
equality, and property; support for religion; and
community service and personal achievement
bind the nation together despite its highly diverse
population.
– Political Culture and Support for Our
Political System
– Political Trust
Public Opinion about
Government
– Trust in government peaked after 9/11 but
fell back thereafter. Over the years, the
military and churches have been the
institutions receiving the highest levels of
public confidence. After 9/11, confidence in
the military reached new highs. Confidence
in churches was hurt in 2002 by a series of
sexual abuse scandals. Banks and the
Supreme Court also score highly, while the
media, Congress, labor unions, and business
come off more poorly.
Trends in Political Trust
Confidence in Institutions
Public Opinion and
Policymaking
The general public believes the leadership
should pay attention to popular opinion.
Leaders themselves are less likely to believe
this.
–Setting Limits on Government Action
• Public opinion may be at its strongest in
preventing politicians from embracing highly
unpopular policies.
–Taking into account the limits on polling
Political Ideologies
6.4
• Objective:
– Identify the influence of political ideology
on Americans’ political thinking and
behavior.
• Essential Question
– How do the ideologies of liberals and
conservatives differ?
• Political Ideology:
– A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public
policy, and public purpose
• Who Are the Liberals and Conservatives?
– Predominance of conservative over liberal thinking
– Currently about 38% conservative, 24% liberal,
38% moderate
• Gender gap: women tend to be less conservative than
men
• Ideological variation by religion too
Who Are Liberals and
Conservatives
• Do People Think in Ideological Terms?
– Ideologues: think in ideological terms
– Group Benefits voters: view politics through party or group
label
– Nature of the Times:
view of politics based on
whether times are good
or bad
– No issue content: vote
routinely for party or
personality
Voters' Thought
Processes
Ideologue
12%
No Issue
Content
22%
Nature of
the Times
24%
Group
Benefits
42%
Political Participation
• Objectives:
– Identify forms of political participation into
two types
– List the advantages of each form of polical
participation
• Conventional participation
– Voting (most common)
– Collecting signatures for petitions
– Running for office
– Working in campaigns
– Contacting government officials
– Working on community issues
– Campaign contributions
• Unconventional Participation
– Political protest
• Achieve political change through dramatic
tactics (Wall Street Protest)
– Civil disobedience
• Political participation in which the law is broken
(Ferguson riots)
• Advantages
– Direct contact with politicians (contacting
representative/senator)
– Running for office- set policy agenda
– Protest- quick attention to issue
– Petition- bring other attention to issue
– Campaign work- contact with officials