Public Opinion

1. Public Opinion Wilson Chapter 5 Klein Oak High School

2. What is Public Opinion? • People don’t spend much time thinking about politics. • Monetary Control Bill ruse • poor name recognition of leaders • Poll questions affect answers. • Public opinion is unstable.

3. Some Conclusions • Public consultation works best with clear-cut political choices. • Specific attitudes may be less important to the health of society than is the underlying political culture.

4. Origins of Political Attitudes • family • religion • gender • schooling

5. The Role of Family 1 • Children adopt party ID of parents • more independent with time • trend is declining • Younger voters are less partisan. • more are independent

6. The Role of Family 2 • Importance of partisan influence of parents is unclear. • Policy choices tend to be independent. • Clear political ideologies passed on only in a few families. • Most families do not discuss ideology. • Greater discussions = more transmittal of ideology

7. The Role of Religion 1 • Families form & transmit allegiances through their religious traditions. • Catholic families = slightly more liberal on economic issues • Protestant families = more conservative • Jewish families = decidedly more liberal on economic and social issues

8. The Role of Religion 2 • Two theories about these differences • Differences reflect social status of each group. • Catholics & Jews once poor immigrants = ID with Democratic Party. • Democratic support has waned as social status increased. • Differences reflect content of religion. • Jews emphasize social justice. • Evangelical Protestants emphasize personal rectitude.

9. The Role of Religion 3 • Christian Coalition • grass roots mobilization • Republican affiliation

11. The Role of Gender 1 • changing party affiliations of men and women • men increasingly Republican since mid-60s • women have identified with Democrats at about the same rate

12. The Role of Gender 2 • reflects attitudinal differences about • size of government • gun controls • social programs • gay rights • gender gap not unique to U.S.

13. Figure 5.1: The Party Identification of Men and Women: 1952-1996 Source: Karen M. Kaufman and John R. Petrocik, “ The Changing Politics of American Men: Understanding the Sources of the Gender Gap,” American Journal of Political Science 43 (1999): 864-887.

15. The Role of Schooling 1 • College education has liberalizing effect • possibly due to exposure to liberalizing ideas • Effect extends long after college • Effect is growing as more people go to college

16. The Role of Schooling 2 • Cause of this liberalizing? • personal traits • temperament, • family, • intelligence • exposure to information about politics • liberal professors

17. The Role of Schooling 3 • Increasing Conservatism Since 1960s? • yes – opposing legalization of marijuana and abortion • no – support school busing

18. Cleavages and Public Opinion • social class • race and ethnicity • region

19. Social Class • less important in U.S. than Europe • Class voting • declined sharply since 1940s • Why the change? • greater exposure to liberalizing effects of higher education • noneconomic issues now define liberal and conservative • moral, symbolic, & foreign policy issues do not divide rich and poor in same way

20. Race and Ethnicity • Similarities and differences between blacks and whites are complex • Generational differences also surface among African Americans • Difference between leaders and citizens • in black community • in white community • No Latino voters have become predictably partisan in their voting

22. Region 1 • White southerners once more conservative than other regions regarding • aid to minorities, • legalizing marijuana, • school busing, and • rights of the accused • White southerners about the same as other regions on economic issues

23. Region 2 • Traditionally, white southerners were solidly Democratic • the “solid south” – for Democrats • Political views today are less regionally distinct • Today, white Southerners are less attached to the Democratic Party than in the past.

24. Political Ideology 1 • coherent and consistent set of political beliefs about who ought to rule, the principles rulers ought to obey, and what policies rulers ought to pursue • measured in terms of • How frequently they self-identify or describe their choices as liberal, conservative, etc. • Whether their policy preferences are consistent over time, or are based on consistent principles

25. Political Ideology 2 • Yet people may have strong predispositions even if they do not satisfy these conditions • Other people may cross the borders of traditional liberalism or conservativism in their issue affiliations

26. Liberalism and Conservativism? 1 • Labels have a complex history • Early 1800s • liberals supported • personal liberty • economic liberty • conservatives supported restoring the authority of • state • church • aristocracy

27. Liberalism and Conservativism? 2 • Roosevelt & New Deal changes things • liberals • support activist government • conservatives • reaction to activism (Goldwater) • free markets • states rights • individual choice in economics • Today labels are imprecise and changing

28. Categories of Public Opinion 1 • Economic policy: liberals favor • jobs for all, • subsidized medical care and education, • increased taxation of the rich • Civil rights: liberals favor • strong federal action to desegregate schools, • create hiring opportunities for minorities, and • strict enforcement of civil rights law

29. Categories of Public Opinion 2 • Public and political conduct: liberals are • tolerant of protest demonstrations, • favor legalization of marijuana, • emphasize protecting the rights of the accused, and • respond to crime by seeking to eliminate its causes

30. Analyzing Consistency • People mix liberal and conservative positions on these categories • See following slides!

31. Pure Liberals • liberal on both economic and personal conduct issues • 1994, 17 percent of the population

32. Pure conservatives • conservative on both economic and personalconduct issues • 1994, 28 percent of the population

33. Libertarians • conservative on economic issues, liberal on personal conduct issues • 1994, about 21 percent of the population

34. Populists • liberal on economic issues, conservative on personal conduct issues • 1994, about 24 percent of the population

35. Political Elites • those who have a disproportionate amount of some valued resource • Elites, or activists, display greater ideological consistency • more information and more interest in politics than most people, so they may see more relationships among the issues • Their peers reinforce this consistency.

36. Is there a “new class”? • those who are advantaged by the power, resources, and growth of government (not by business, as elites previously were) • Two explanations of well-off individuals who are liberals • Directly benefit from government • Liberal ideology is now infusing postgraduate education

37. Middle Class Split? 1 • Traditional middle class: • four years of college, • suburban, • church affiliated, • pro business, • conservative on social issues, • Republican

38. Middle Class Split? 2 • Liberal middle class (or new class): • postgraduate education, • urban, • critical of business, • liberal on social issues, • Democrat • Emergence of new class creates a greater strain in Democratic party

39. Political elites, public opinion, and public policy • Elites influence public opinion in two ways • Raise and frame political issues • State norms by which to settle issues and define policy options

40. Limits to elite influence on the public • Elites do not define economic, crime, and other problems that are rooted in personal experience • Elites contradict and disagree with one another, limiting their influence

41. The End!