Public Opinion

Question 1

What is an example of Ireland of the public reacting widely to something?

Answer 1

Widespread turnout to ban 8th amendment to allow less restrictive abortion laws.

Question 2

Why is public opinion important to democracy?

Answer 2

1. We believe public opinion should influence what government does.
2. a lot of people behave as if public opinion does matter, which makes it a factor in US politics.

Question 3

What are some examples of a shift to a focus on citizenship in democracy?

Answer 3

Seventeenth amendment gave election to citizens rather than the state legislature.

The electoral college shifted from a group of enlightened individuals to the public’s selection

Question 4

What are the two views of the average American citizen in terms of politics?

Answer 4

1. The ideal democratic citizen who is attentive to politics
2. The lazy self interested citizen who is apolitical

Question 5

What are some examples of the public reacting to political moments in the US recently?

Answer 5

2006 midterm elections dems did well bc republicans supported war in Iraq.

Protests after trumps election over women’s rights among other things

George Floyd videos online

Question 6

Do modern presidents pay attention to public opinion?

Answer 6

Yes, greatly

Question 7

Are Americans well informed about their political system?

Answer 7

No

Question 8

Do Americans have good voter turnout?

Answer 8

No

Question 9

What is political socialization?

Answer 9

where we learn our earliest opinions transferred from generation to generation

Question 10

What is the biggest influence on our political development?

Answer 10

Out family

Question 11

What is the spiral of silence?

Answer 11

when minority voices silence themselves in the face of majority consensus

Question 12

What are some of the things that effects ones political views

Answer 12

Family, Race, Gender, stage in life, where you live

Question 13

What are political generations?

Answer 13

Groups of citizens who have been shaped by particular events, usually in their youth and whose shared experience continues to identify them throughout their lives

Question 14

Does congress use phone calls and mail more than polls to gather public opinion?

Answer 14

yes

Question 15

What are straw polls?

Answer 15

The original type of poll that was trying to find the way the political ‘wind’ was blowing

Question 16

What is an example of sampling bias?

Answer 16

For random phone calls, elderly women are more likely to pick up than young men because they have more free time.

Question 17

What creates a right question for polls?

Answer 17

Respondents should be asked about things they know about, and questions should not be ambiguous.

Question 18

Who are some groups that frequently create national polls?

Answer 18

ABC News, Washington Post, CBS/NYT

Question 19

What are tracking polls?

Answer 19

Theyre used by campaigns and ran daily, they average overtime and provide a dynamic view of voters perceptions.

Question 20

What is a push poll?

Answer 20

A subset of a pseudo poll, its goal is to change peoples attitudes. Some legislation has been put up against push polling.

Question 21

Are polls usually accurate?

Answer 21

Yes, usually in recent times it has predicted the popular vote correctly, sometimes not electoral college

Question 22

What is the idea of rational ignorance?

Answer 22

That a lot of people don’t have time for politics so it is rational for them to be ignorant