Chapter 10

Question 1

What is public opinion?

Answer 1

What the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time.

Question 2

What are public opinion polls?

Answer 2

Interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the entire population.

Question 3

Who was George Gallup?

Answer 3

One of the earliest developers of scientific methods for public opinion polling and proponent for a strong role for the voice of the public and government.

Question 4

What did the Declaration Of Independence imply?

Answer 4

Public opinion must be considered and acknowledged by the Government because it functions on “the consent of the governed.”

Question 5

Where does “One united people” come from?

Answer 5

Federalist Paper #2 by John Jay.

Question 6

Where does “Of the people, by the people, and for the people” come from?

Answer 6

Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Question 7

What was one of George Gallup’s important thoughts?

Answer 7

Polls have played a key role in defining issues of concern to the public, shaping administrative decisions, and helping “speed up the process of democracy.”

Question 8

What is a straw poll?

Answer 8

An unscientific survey used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies.

Question 9

What is a sample?

Answer 9

A subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of gauging opinion.

Question 10

What was the Literary Digest?

Answer 10

A popular magazine that first began national presidential polling in 1916. They had a pol that they had predicted someone to win but they were wrong.

Question 11

What is the American National Election Studies (ANES)?

Answer 11

Founded in 1952 by researchers at the University of Michigan and Sanford University, ANES collects data on the political attitudes and behavior among voters, such as party affiliation, voting practices, and opinions on partiers and candidates.

Question 12

What are push polls?

Answer 12

Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate.

Question 13

What is a population?

Answer 13

The entire group of people whose attitudes a researcher wishes to measure.

Question 14

What is random sampling?

Answer 14

A method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected.

Question 15

What is stratified sampling?

Answer 15

A variation of random sampling; the population is divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographic characteristics of the national population.

Question 16

What are tracking polls?

Answer 16

Continuous surveys that enables a campaign or news organization to chart a candidate’s daily or weekly rise or fall in support.

Question 17

What are exit polls?

Answer 17

Polls that are conducted as voters leave selected polling places on election day.

Question 18

What are some reasons pulls may be inaccurate?

Answer 18

Survey error, limited respondent options, lack of information, difficulty measuring the intensity, and lack of interest.

Question 19

What is a margin of error?

Answer 19

A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll within statistical parameters.

Question 20

What is a sampling error?

Answer 20

Errors resulting from the size or the quality of a survey sample.

Question 21

What is the typical margin of error in a sample of 1,000?

Answer 21

4%

Question 22

Who was V.O. Key Jr?

Answer 22

One of the first social scientists to note the problem of limited respondent options (simple yes or no questions may not be sufficient)

Question 23

What is political ideology?

Answer 23

The coherent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and scope of government, held by groups and individuals.

Question 24

What is a conservative?

Answer 24

One who favors limited government intervention, particularly in economic affairs.

Question 25

What is a social conservative?

Answer 25

One who believes that the government should support and further traditional moral teachings.

Question 26

Who is Isaiah Berlin?

Answer 26

A noted historian and philosopher that stated that two factors above all others shaped human history in the 20th century. One being science and technology and the other being ideological battles (ex: racism, religious bigotry).

Question 27

What are the 4 functions of Ideologies?

Answer 27

Explanation, Evaluation, Orientation, and Political Program.

Question 28

What is a liberal?

Answer 28

One who favors greater government intervention, particularly in economic affairs and in the provision of social services.

Question 29

What is a moderate?

Answer 29

A person who takes a relatively centrist or middle-of-the-road view on most political issues.

Question 30

What religions are a majority of Social Conservatives?

Answer 30

Evangelical Protestants, Mormons, and Roman Catholics.

Question 31

What were most Greek Philosophers categorized as?

Answer 31

Moderates.

Question 32

What is the Nolan Chart?

Answer 32

A political ideology chart that helps classify citizens’ political beliefs on two key dimensions - economic and personal freedom.

Question 33

What is a statist?

Answer 33

One who believes in extensive government control of personal and economic liberties.

Question 34

What is a libertarian?

Answer 34

One who believes in limited government interference in personal and economic liberties.

Question 35

What is political socialization?

Answer 35

The process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and values.

Question 36

What are some demographic characteristics?

Answer 36

Gender, race, ethnicity, age, and religion.

Question 37

Political knowledge and political participation have what kind of effect on each other?

Answer 37

A reciprocal effect (an increase in one will increase the other).

Question 38

Who is Andrew Kohut?

Answer 38

The late president of the Pew Research Center. He argued that the public has become a larger part of national and international politics in the past 3 decades because of the rise in the number of polls regularly conducted and reported.

Question 39

What is the process to conduct polls?

Answer 39

1) Determine questions.
2) Identify the sample.
3) Select the method of contact.

Question 40

What are the 3 types of contact for polls?

Answer 40

Telephone polls, in-person polls, and internet polls.

Question 41

What is interviewer bias?

Answer 41

unintended influence of the questioner on respondents during in-person interviews

Question 42

What is a feeling thermometer?

Answer 42

The feeling thermometer is a common survey tool used by researchers to determine and compare respondents’ feelings about a given person, group, or issue.

Question 43

What do Americans often have difficulty forming opinions about?

Answer 43

Policies that don’t directly affect them.

Question 44

What is self-selection?

Answer 44

When respondents choose to answer a survey.

Question 45

When is a child’s peer group most politically influential?

Answer 45

when the child enters middle school or high school

Question 46

What is the purpose of a “name recognition survey”?

Answer 46

to discover how many people have heard of a potential candidate for office

Question 47

How does the textbook answer this question: why are traditional telephone polls becoming increasingly difficult to conduct?

Answer 47

Many people don’t have landlines`.

Question 48

What is a screening procedure?

Answer 48

Informs survey takers by providing information relating to the poll beforehand.

Question 49

what should a polling firm do first?

Answer 49

determine the content and phrasing of the questions they want answered

Question 50

What accurately describes a difference in public opinion between men and women?

Answer 50

Men are more likely to favor military intervention.

Question 51

Which of the following surveys is more likely than the others to generate self-selection error?

Answer 51

a mail-in survey of retirement community members about the privatization of Medicare

Question 52

Which type of survey question is best suited to addressing concerns about public opinion polls that contain a limited number of response options?

Answer 52

feeling thermometer” questions