Chapter 7

Question 1

Public opinion

Answer 1

How people think or feel about particular things

Question 2

Poll

Answer 2

A survey of public opinion

Question 3

If a poll is conducted properly, what can it do?

Answer 3

Capture the opinions of 250 million citizens by interviewing as few as 1,500 of then

Question 4

List a several keys to good polling

Answer 4

Posing comprehensible questions

Wording questions fairly

Question 5

Random sample

Answer 5

Method of selecting from population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected

Question 6

Sampling error

Answer 6

The difference between the results of two random surveys or samples taken at the same time

Question 7

Exit polls

Answer 7

Interviews with randomly selected voters conducted at polling places on Election Day

Question 8

Opinion saliency

Answer 8

Some people care more about certain issues or choices than other people do

Question 9

Opinion stability

Answer 9

On some issues or choices opinions are pretty steady, while on others they tend to be more volatile

Question 10

Opinion-policy congruence

Answer 10

On some issues government seems largely in sync with the popular views or majority sentiments, while on other issues it seems significantly out of sync

Question 11

Political socialization

Answer 11

The prices by which personal and other background traits influence one’s views about politics and government matters

Question 12

Elite

Answer 12

People who have a disproportionate amount of some valued resource

Question 13

The best-studied case of formation is that of what?

Answer 13

Party identification

Question 14

Is public opinion easy to measure?

Answer 14

No

Question 15

Whose opinions carry more weight?

Answer 15

Active and knowledgable people

Question 16

What did the first major academic studies published in the 1940s reveal about American democracy?

Answer 16

The vast majority of citizens knew next to nothing about government an had vague nations even on matters that directly affected them.

Question 17

Advantages of polls

Answer 17

Good for capturing public opinion, usually accurate

Question 18

Disadvantages

Answer 18

Expensive, difficult to conduct in timely matter, unresponsive people

Question 19

Why is random sampling necessary?

Answer 19

To ensure reasonably accurate measure of how entire population thinks or feels.

Question 20

Cleavages

Answer 20

Splits and differences in opinion on political issue

Question 21

Cross cutting cleavage

Answer 21

Differences between political preferences based on more than one variable, such as race, ethnicity, religion, education, etc.

Question 22

Is class voting still in existence in the US? Why?

Answer 22

Yes. Unskilled workers tend to be democrats, & affluent people Republicans, but class views are much more similar

Question 23

Is race an ethnicity in America a source of cleavage in the US?

Answer 23

Yes. Blacks are overwhelmingly democrats. Whites are more likely to be republican. On certain issues like affirmative action, blacks and whites disagree. On many others they agree. Asians tend to be more conservative, while Hispanics are generally liberal. Race differences are decreasing.

Question 24

Explain how geographic regions affect political attitudes in the US.

Answer 24

The south has been more accommodating to free enterprise & business and less to organized labor than the northeast.
Southerner s tend to be more conservative & less attached to Democratic Party.