1 / 11

Understanding Political Opinion in Democracy: Views, Influences, and Implications

Explore the dynamics of public opinion in democracy, from party identification to measuring opinions, ideologies, and political culture. Learn about the impact of factors like socialization, media, subcultures, and ideologies on public sentiment.

ewells
Download Presentation

Understanding Political Opinion in Democracy: Views, Influences, and Implications

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ch. 6: Public Opinion & Ideology • Public opinion in a democracy

  2. Political Socialization • Family • Schools • Religious & Civic Organizations • Reference groups: • Primary • Secondary • Mass Media

  3. Party Identification • At least 60% of Americans identify with a party • This psychological attachment significantly affects voters’ perceptions of issues and candidates • Parties try to reinforce this attachment – party registration, e.g. • Past 30 years have seen an increase in “Independents,” at the expense of the parties • Party ID still the best single predictor of vote

  4. Measuring Public Opinion • Varies by • Direction • Intensity • Saliency • Stability

  5. Measuring Public Opinion • Samples and Universes • Random Sampling • Literary Digest: cars, telephones, & FDR • Sample size & margin of error • Question wording • Loaded wording – see example, p. 187 • Open- and closed-ended questions • “Non-attitudes”

  6. Do polls affect opinions? • Bandwagon effect? Mixed evidence • Do polls mobilize or demobilize voters? • Exit polls & election-night reporting

  7. Are we paying attention? • Does policy reflect opinion? • Attentive publics • Domestic vs. foreign policy awareness

  8. Political Culture • Shared values: • Liberty • Equality • Individualism • Majority rule • Popular sovereignty • Rule of law • Optimism

  9. Political Subcultures • Daniel Elazar – 3 political subcultures: • Moralistic: Emphasis on civic duty, solving problems collectively. • Individualistic: Politics is a competitive marketplace; reps fight for their people. • Traditionalistic: Keep the status quo; people defer to the ruling elites.

  10. Political Ideology • Liberalism • Conservatism • Traditional conservatives • Social conservatives • Libertarianism

  11. Ideology in practice • Ideologies as symbols • Converse and the study of “belief systems” • Are there any ideologues (outside talk radio)?

More Related