1. Mass Media

2. What is Public Opinion?
Complex collection of the opinions of many different people (on public Affairs)
Misconceptions of Public Opinion:
Belief all or most people have the same view
The public favors this or that
Very few matters all or most of “the People” agree on
Must involve something of general concern and a significant portion of the people

3. Different Publics Believe it or not there are different Publics…
Each issues has a “public”
National health care; President is doing an excellent/terrible job; Capital punishment should be abolished
Belong to more than one

4. Different Publics:
Not many Issues capture the attention of “ALL” Americans
Name one????
Public Opinion includes ONLY those views related to PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Politics, public issues, making public policy
Public affairs: views that people hold on such things as parties, candidates, taxes, unemployment, welfare, programs, national defense, foreign policy etc.

5. Other Factors

6. Family And Education Your not born with your values
Political Opinions are learned
From mom and dad
Teachers/schools
Education
Friends
Experiences and relationships

7. Other Factors
Weight of each factor that influences public opinion depends on the issue
Mass Media
Peer groups
Opinion leaders
Historic events

8. Other Factors:
Means of communication that reach large, widely dispersed audiences
Television:
98% households = 1 T.V.
Turned on for 7 hours a day
Peer Groups
People who you talk too regularly
Reinforces what a person has already come to believe

9. Other Factors: Opinion Leaders Historical Events
A person who has unusually strong influence on the views of others (draw ideas and conventions)
Hold public office
Newspapers
Magazines
Historical Events
Great Depression ( role of government)
60’s and 70’s traumatic events; resignation of Nixon
Evaluated trustworthiness of government

10. Measuring Public Opinion

11. Measuring Public Opinion
Elections
Voting
Lobbying
Books
Pamphlets
Editorial comments in the Press
Public Officials

12. Measuring Public Opinion
Elections
Results are indicator of Public Opinion?
People’s approval/rejection
Parties claim a mandate
Refers to the instructions or commands a constituency gives its elected officials
“Elections are, at best, only useful indicators of public opinion.”
Represents only a GENERAL directions parties should take

13. Measuring Public Opinion
Interest Groups:
Private organizations whose members share certain views and objectives and work to shape making and the content of public policy
The Media
“mirrors” or “molders”
Reflect only the views of the vocal majority

14. Measuring Public Opinion
Personal Contacts
“read the publics mind”
“voice of the people?”
Contacts with the public

15. Poll- the “Best” Measure
Straw vote is a method of polling that seeks to read the public’s mind simply by asking the same question of a large number of people.
The straw-vote technique is highly unreliable, however.

16. Poll- the “Best” Measure
Scientific Polling
Serious efforts to take the public’s pulse on a scientific basis date from the 1930s.
There are now more than 1,000 national and regional polling organizations in this country, with at least 200 of these polling political preferences.

17. The Polling Process Five things pollsters must do
Define the universe to be surveyed
Construct a sample
Prepare valid questions
Select and control how the poll will be taken
Analyze and report their findins to the public

18. Polling Process Defining the Universe Constructing a Sample
Whole population the poll aims to measure
Every high school student in Georgia
Atlanta voters
Constructing a Sample
A representative slice of the total universe
Random samples
1500 people
Quota sample
Sample deliberately constructed to reflect several of the major characteristics of a given universe

19. Polling Process Preparing Valid Questions
Wording can affect the reliability of any poll
“Should local taxes be reduced?”
“”Should the city’s police force be increased to fight rising tide of crime in our community?”
Ask loaded questions, emotionally charged words, terms that are difficult to understand

20. Polling Process Interviewing
Telephone: calls are placed randomly chosen area codes around the nation
Less labor intensive/less expensive
Tone of voice
Emphasis given to certain words
Responses are given to “please” the pollster

21. Polling Process Analyze and Report findings
Collect huge amounts of raw data
Computers
Other election hardware
Tabulate and interpret data; draw conclusions; report findings

22. Evaluating Polls
Most national and regional polls are fairly reliable. (they are far from perfect.)
Potential problems with polls
Inability to measure the intensity, stability, and relevance of the opinions they report.
polls and pollsters sometimes shape the opinions they are supposed to measure.

23. Limits on the Impact of Public Opinion
Public opinion is the major, but by no means the only, influence on public policy in this country.
American political system is designed to protect minority interests against the excesses of majority views and actions.
Polls are not elections, nor are they substitutes for elections.

24. The Role of Mass Media Medium
Means of communication; transmits some kind of information
Four Major Kinds in US
Television
Newspaper
Radio
Magazines
Internet is increasing more important every year….replacing newspapers

25. The Role of Mass Media Presents people with political information
Directly in news reports
Less direct: radio, television, newspaper stories, magazine articles

26. Role of Mass Media Television: Newspapers:
Replaced Newspapers as the principal source of political information
NBC, ABC, CBS
Others: CNN, PBS, etc
Newspapers:
Freedom of Press
# of papers continues to Decline with rise of internet

27. Role of Mass Media Radio:
1930’s Major entertainment and political information center
President F. Roosevelt: 1st to use radio effectively
20 hours of radio a week
Talk Radio
Political commentaries

28. Role of Mass Media Magazines: 12,000 published in U.S. today
Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report

29. The Media and Politics Public Agenda
Societal problems that the nation’s political leaders and the general public agree need government attention
Focus public on a particular issue
Don’t tell you what to think but what to think about
Political leaders pay close attention to Media

30. Electoral Politics
Make candidates less dependent on party organizations
Appeal directly to the people
Create their own image
Strategy:
Take no more than a minute or two of air time
Show people doing something interesting and exciting
Sound Bites: snappy reports that can be aired seconds