Ideology and Public Opinion

1. 0 Ideology and Public Opinion 15 October, 2007

2. Review:The American Political System • Designed to protect against majority rule and protect minority rights • Examples • Viewed in comparative perspective

3. Nature and Acquisition of Opinions and Values • Process by which one acquires values and develops opinions is called socialization. • Agents of socialization • Family and Friends • School • News media • Lifetime Learning: new jobs, new friends, new neighborhoods

4. Ideology • A package of ideas, a way of organizing one’s thinking about political issues and leaders. Anchored by core values that serve to structure other ideas

5. Liberal vs. conservative • A core value that distinguishes them and influences their positions on a variety of issues is whether government should actively promoteindividual equality. • Liberals [in the United States] favor active government intervention to promote equality of outcomes/results • flat rate vs. regressive rate • income tax vs. sales tax • Conservatives believe that government should be limited to ensuring equality of opportunities in economic matter. In social matters, however, conservatives favor a more expansive role for government

6. American Individualism Figure 4.2 Percentage saying they “completely agree” with the following statement: “It is the responsibility of the state to take care of very poor people who can’t take care of themselves”

7. Right vs. Left • Direction comes from French political tradition • Those who generally supported the policies of the monarch were seated to his right and those who proposed changes in the system were arranged to his left. • At the extremes individuals are extremely dissatisfied and want revolutionary change

8. Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

9. Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

10. Opinions about Federal Spending Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

11. Views of Ideological Groups Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

12. Views of Groups by Ideology Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

13. Views of Institutions by Ideology Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

14. Views of Interest Groups Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

15. Interpersonal Trust Source: American National Election Study (NES) 2002

16. Distribution of Ideology over time Conservative Moderate Liberal Source: American National Election Studies (1972-2004)

17. Who are the Liberals? • Poor • Low Education • Low Strata Occupation • Minority • Urban • Jew, Catholic • Democrats

18. Who are the Conservatives? • Wealthy • High Education • High Status Occupation • White • Suburban • Protestant • Republican

19. Red and Blue States(2004 Presidential Election)

20. Another Way of Looking at the Distribution of Votes

21. Culture War? • Fiorina argues that the ideological disputes that engage political elites and activists have little resonance among the American mass public • Ordinary 21st century Americans “are not very well-informed about politics, do not hold many of their views very strongly, and are not ideological” (p. 19).

22. Culture War? • Fiorina’s characterization of Americans as uninterested and non-ideological may apply very well to the large number of Americans who rarely or never vote. • However, it may not apply as well to regular voters, and it is voters whose opinions are of greatest concern to candidates and elected officials.

23. Distribution of Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

24. Distribution of Non Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

25. Percentage of voters donating money to a party or candidate by ideology

26. Polarization • Electoral competition in the United States now appears to be structured by ideology • The American public appears to be increasingly divided into two groups: the politically engaged, who view politics in ideological terms, and the politically disengaged, who do not.