public opinion

Question 1

What is public opinion?

Answer 1

citizens’ attitudes about political issues, personalities, institutions and events

Question 2

What is the Condorcet jury theorem?

Answer 2

the majority of a jury would more likely reach the right decision in a trial than would a single individual who heard the same evidence, so conceptually adding up the judgments of many separate individuals reduces the probability of a mistake & Democracy works because voting is an efficient way of collecting the knowledge widely held in a society

Question 3

What three factors do individuals political opinion depend on?

Answer 3

1. Basic preferences (what they want)
2. The beliefs about current circumstances and the consequences of different courses of action
3. The choice presented

Question 4

What are areas of commonality or consensus within the American public opinion?

Answer 4

Legitimacy of the government, equality of opportunity, liberty and democracy

Question 5

What is a variable in the context of political science?

Answer 5

a set of exclusive options that capture the range of opinions on a given issue
for example: support or oppose, favor or not, yes or no

Question 6

What are examples of forms that opinions can take?

Answer 6

1. Evaluations of those in government and other institutions
2. Assessments of public policies
3. Assessments of current circumstances
4. Political Orientations

Question 7

Why is Congress more polarized than the public?

Answer 7

1. The nature of debate in Washington and the choices put before Congress
2. Institutional factors such as the organization of parties in Congress
3. The election process, primary elections and campaign contributors

Question 8

What are factors that influence self-interest?

Answer 8

geographical location, social status, and other personal attributes

Question 9

What is socialization?

Answer 9

the process through which social interactions and social groups affect our perspectives and preferences

Question 10

What are important agents of socialization?

Answer 10

1. The family
2. Education
3. Involuntary & Voluntary groups

Question 11

What is an ideology?

Answer 11

a comprehensive way of understanding political or cultural situations; a set of assumptions about the way society works that helps us organize our beliefs, information and reactions to new situations; it ascribes values to different alternatives and helps us balance competing values

Question 12

What is a liberal? (loosely)

Answer 12

implies support for political and social reform, government intervention in the economy, expansion of federal services, etc

Question 13

What is a conservative (loosely)

Answer 13

implies support the social and economic status quo, favor markets as solutions to social problems, suspicious to government involvement in the economy

Question 14

What is populism?

Answer 14

a strain of conservatism which is generally isolationist in international affairs, favors limited powers of government and advocates social nativism

Question 14

What is descriptive representation?

Answer 14

preference for someone of the same identity regardless of beliefs

Question 14

What is the gender gap?

Answer 14

a distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men