Chapter Four: Public Opinion Flashcards
Public opinion
Distribution of individual attitudes towards a particular issue, candidate or political institution
George Gallup
Gallup poll
Representative sample
sample of those interviewed must be representative of the entire population
Random sampling
everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected for the poll
Careful and objective wording (Push poll)
“Loaded” or emotional words that make a no answer seem morally wrong - exaggerated to try to get the person being asked to agree with the asker
Cost efficiency v. accuracy
Every poll has a budget, but accuracy should not be a result of this
Straw poll
Asks television viewers to call in their opinions - cheap but not very accurate
Political socialization
Lifelong process through which an individual acquires political opinions
Family and political socialization
Historically biggest factor (media has begun to overpower it)
Gender and political socialization and the gender gap
Women and men vote differently - Democrats support women’s issues - equal opportunity for women, abortion rights, and welfare programs - women tend to vote Democrat
Marriage and political socialization
Married people are more likely to vote Republican while singles are more likely to vote democrat
Religion and political socialization
generally the more religious you are, the more Conservative you are - Protestants vote conservative economically - Jews vote more liberal and economic and social issues - Catholics are more liberal economically than they are socially - Middle eastern voters are historically conservative, but not as of late (War on Terror)
Education and political socialization
generally the more educated you are, the more involved in the political process you are. The longer you stay in college, the more liberal you become. The higher the education level, the likelier to be conservative
Social Class and political socialization
Historically the higher class, the more conservative, but that correlation is much weaker today
Race and Ethnicity and political socialization
Black - more Democrat, Hispanic - more Democrat (not as much as blacks though), but Cubans are more conservative, Asian - more conservative, but it fluctuates between types of Asians
Geographic region and political socialization
More urban = more liberal and more rural = more conservative. Reconstruction southeast = Democrat, but modern day southeast = Republican
Political ideology
coherent set of values and beliefs about public policy - liberal and conservative
Ideologues
voters who connect their opinions and beliefs to policy positions by candidates and parties - 12% of Americans voted this way in the 50’s
Group benefit voters
voters who voted for parties based on which one they thought would benefit groups they belonged to or supported - 42% of Americans voted this way in the 50’s
Nature of the times voters
voters who linked good times or bad times (usually based on economics) to one political party or the other and vote accordingly - 24% of Americans voted this way on the 50’s
No issue content
voters who could give no issue-based or ideological reasons for voting for a party or a candidate - 22% of Americans voted this way in the 50’s
Neo-cons
post-Cold War conservative movement to counter global terrorism, break up global terrorist networks, and in part started and support the War on Terror
