POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION & PUBLIC OPINION Flashcards
What are the five factors that influence political ideological formation?
family, school and peers, mass media, impacts of events, social groups
What political affiliation do most TV and print media align with?
liberal/democrat
What political affiliation do most universities align with?
liberal/democrat
What political affiliation do most Evangelicals and Protestants align with?
conservative/republican
What political affiliation do most Catholics and Jews align with?
liberal/democrat
What party do men vote the most for and by what percentage?
the republican party, 60%
What party do women vote the most for and by what percentage?
the democratic party, 60%
What are qualities of a good opinion poll?
- Properly, neutrally worded. They do not use descriptive/leading words such as “bad” or “good”.
- Questions are properly sequenced. A question can influence the answer of following questions.
- The sample is accurate and reflects real life demographics. This relies on how respondents are contacted.
- The poll has a margin of error less than or equal to 4%.
What is a tracking poll?
a continuous survey to chart the daily rise and fall of popularity. changes greater than 4% show actual popularity shifts.
What is an exit poll?
a poll done on election day that asks respondents who they voted for and what issues they voted because of. helps media predict election results and helps visualize what each demographic voted for.
What is a deliberative poll?
a poll that takes a large sample of respondents and exposes them to issue clusters (e.g. immigration, healthcare). respondents hear arguments from both sides of an issue before being asked what they think of the issue afterwards. purpose is to see how people would vote when properly informed, but many political scientists think this kind of poll is useless because most voters do not do this in real life.
What is the common practice today among survey firms when it comes to asking presidential approval questions?
They typically ask the respondents what they think of the president in question first before asking questions about the president’s performance due to the influence of question sequencing.
