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Exam 3 - Public opinion Flashcards

1
Q

what is public opinion?

A

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

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2
Q

name examples of a public opinion

A

citizens views on candidates
political institutions

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3
Q

how are public opinions identified?

A

through a public opinion poll

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4
Q

what is a public opinion poll?

A

a survey of a sample of citizens used to estimate the entire population’s feelings and beliefs

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5
Q

what are the 2 reasons why public opinion is important for democracy?

A
  1. public opinion can influence what the govt does
  2. a lot of political actors behave as though public opinion matters
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6
Q

what is public/population?

A

the group of people we are interested in

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7
Q

population =

A

public

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8
Q

name examples of the public/populations

A

dog owners
people who have children between the age 4-6
an entire country

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9
Q

why does public opinion matter?

A

to prove legitimacy of the democratic government

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10
Q

what does it mean when public opinion provides legitimacy of a democratic govt?

A
  1. the govt exists to serve the interest of its citizens
  2. elected officials should implement policies favored by the people
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11
Q

Americans as a group __(1)__, even though __(2)__

A
  1. behave as ideal citizens
  2. individuals do not
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12
Q

what does democracy mean if mass views have no place in shaping policy?

A

citizens can govern themselves

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13
Q

why does public opinion matter? (2)

A
  1. influences the actions of politicians and public officials
  2. congresspeople considered public opinion when voting on major bills
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14
Q

how is the role of public opinion enhanced?

A

by the number of polls regularly conducted and reported

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15
Q

what main groups use public opinion? and why do they use public opinion?

A
  1. elected officials to justify policies
  2. political candidates to mount campaigns
  3. interest groups to promote their cause
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16
Q

what are the 3 levels of public opinion?

A
  1. broad / abstract = values and beliefs
  2. intermediate = political orientations
  3. specific = preferences about particular topics
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17
Q

what are values and beliefs

A

broad principles that individuals support and to which they adhere

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18
Q

what are the 4 basic values in American Culture

A
  1. rule of law
  2. individualism
  3. Liberty
  4. Equality

RILE

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19
Q

Rule of Law =

A

strong belief in legitimacy of the US constitution

majority opinion should prevail

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20
Q

Individualism =

A

preference for rewarding hard work and limiting the role of govt

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21
Q

Liberty =

A

strong support for idea of basic freedoms and liberties

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22
Q

Equality =

A

all people should be treated equally under the law and have equal opportunities for economic success

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23
Q

attitudes regarding the performance of political leaders and institutions, candidate preferences in elections, and specific policy issues

A

political preferences

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24
Q

what influences political preferences?

A

political orientations

25
what is an example of preference on a particular topic?
poll ask an individuals view on specific events, person, law, policy, practice etc.
26
how do we measure public opinion?
by using Surveys to estimate the feelings and beliefs of an entire population
27
because we cannot interview all of the U.S citizens, what is done to measure public opinion?
we examine a smaller group of cases selected from the population aka SAMPLING
28
what is a sample?
a small group of cases (a small portion)
29
what is sampling?
the act of taking a small portion, or sample, to learn about some much larger population
30
what should a sample do?
it should reflect the characteristics of the population it represents
31
in what level does a survey about socialism fall under?
values/beliefs (broad level)
32
why do we use surveys?
to estimate feelings and beliefs of an entire population
33
when conducting a survey, do we survey the entire population?
NO
34
what do we do instead of sampling the larger population?
we select from a population
35
sampling is Not something we do all the time (T/F)
FALSE
36
what must be done when drawing a sample? (2)
1. must be a representation of the entire population 2. must avoid biases in sampling procedure
37
why do we avoid bias when drawing a sample?
because if we use bias then the sample will not look like the larger population, which can have disastrous results
38
what was the first epic fail of polls?
the literary digest poll
39
What did the literary digest do?
conducted nationwide polls of over 1 million Americans as to for whom they would for president
40
why was the literary digest poll an epic fail?
they predicted that Landon would defeat FDR by 20pts the results where reversed
41
why was the literary digest poll so wrong?
1. the magazine drew its sample from telephone directories and automobile registration lists 2. over sampled republicans (rich people)
42
how do we obtain a representative sample?
by sampling at random
43
why do we sample at random?
so everyone has an equal chance to be selected
44
benefits of randomization (3)
1. protects you from the influences of all the things you know and do not know about the population 2. to ensure that the sample looks like the rest of the population 3. avoids bias
45
what do you do first to draw a random sample
define the population
46
population =
the group or pool of interest to a study
47
what is sampling frame
determines where the sample comes from and how you ensure you only sample from the population
48
what does a question do in a survey?
a question designed in a certain way it can elicit very different responses
49
how dumb is trump when it comes to foreign policy?
Leading question
50
Should concerned dog owners vaccinate their pets?
leading question
51
how happy or unhappy are you with the rate of current school board funding and the common-core curriculum?
Double-barreled question
52
Leading question
it is leading a person to response in a certain way. Leading the people to answer in one way.
53
Double-barreled question
ask two questions but you only get to answer one
54
how fantastic had the LU's President's response been to Covid-19?
Leading question
55
How happy are you with the college's response to Covid-19 and to your financial aid package?
Double-barreled question
56
+/- 3 & 4
good sample
57
+/- 9
bad smaple
58
over +/- 5
bad sample

Political Science (18 decks)

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