Chapter Four: Public Opinion

Question 1

Public opinion

Answer 1

Distribution of individual attitudes towards a particular issue, candidate or political institution

Question 2

George Gallup

Answer 2

Gallup poll

Question 3

Representative sample

Answer 3

sample of those interviewed must be representative of the entire population

Question 4

Random sampling

Answer 4

everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected for the poll

Question 5

Careful and objective wording (Push poll)

Answer 5

“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

Question 6

Cost efficiency v. accuracy

Answer 6

Every poll has a budget, but accuracy should not be a result of this

Question 7

Straw poll

Answer 7

Asks television viewers to call in their opinions - cheap but not very accurate

Question 8

Political socialization

Answer 8

Lifelong process through which an individual acquires political opinions

Question 9

Family and political socialization

Answer 9

Historically biggest factor (media has begun to overpower it)

Question 10

Gender and political socialization and the gender gap

Answer 10

Women and men vote differently - Democrats support women’s issues - equal opportunity for women, abortion rights, and welfare programs - women tend to vote Democrat

Question 11

Marriage and political socialization

Answer 11

Married people are more likely to vote Republican while singles are more likely to vote democrat

Question 12

Religion and political socialization

Answer 12

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)

Question 13

Education and political socialization

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Social Class and political socialization

Answer 14

Historically the higher class, the more conservative, but that correlation is much weaker today

Question 15

Race and Ethnicity and political socialization

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Geographic region and political socialization

Answer 16

More urban = more liberal and more rural = more conservative. Reconstruction southeast = Democrat, but modern day southeast = Republican

Question 17

Political ideology

Answer 17

coherent set of values and beliefs about public policy - liberal and conservative

Question 18

Ideologues

Answer 18

voters who connect their opinions and beliefs to policy positions by candidates and parties - 12% of Americans voted this way in the 50’s

Question 19

Group benefit voters

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Nature of the times voters

Answer 20

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

Question 21

No issue content

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Neo-cons

Answer 22

post-Cold War conservative movement to counter global terrorism, break up global terrorist networks, and in part started and support the War on Terror