Agenda- 11/2 1.C.E.- Public Opinion, Political parties, and Media 2.Review M/C test/ Vocab. Guide 3.Lecture Ch. 7 4.Introduce project 5.HW: Project due Friday, Nov. 13 th Vocab. Quiz Mon, Nov. 9 th

Pre-lecture Warm-up:  Look at the graphs on p. 161: 1.Looking at Table 7.2, what assumptions can you make about different religious groups regarding certain political issues? 2.Looking at table 7.3, what assumptions can you make about party identification based on gender and age?

Public Opinion (Chapter 7) Political Socialization- Defined: the process in which people acquire their political beliefs

The Framers…   The Framers of the Constitution did NOT care about public opinion much at all   Government had a lot of purposes, but it was NOT intended to do whatever we want! So why does it matter?   Because we DO have an opinion, and you need to examine where YOUR opinion comes from

Political Socialization Agents 1.The Family 2.The Schools 3.Religion 4.Race 5.Gender 6.Other outlying factors

1. Family  STRONGEST  This also includes genetic factors, not just parental influence  Correlation between parent’s party affiliation and child’s  Less of a correlation on civil liberties and racial issues  Fairly equal influence of mother and father  When parents differ, child tends to associate w/ beliefs of parent they identify more with

2. Schools  Impart basic values, e.g. civic duty, patriotism  High school government classes do not change political orientation of students! =)  College students tend to be more liberal  Students at most prestigious schools tend to be the most liberal  Social science students tend to be more liberal than those in natural/physical sciences

3. Religion  Protestants  Generally more conservative, especially on social issues  Catholic  Traditionally more liberal  Increasing importance of social issues  greater degree of conservatism  Jewish  Liberal influence  Strong support for the democratic party

4. Race  Whites: more conservative, greater support for republicans  Blacks: more liberal, strongest supporters of democratic party  Hispanics: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans more liberal and supportive of democrats, Cubans more conservative and supportive of republicans  Asians: more conservative and supportive of republicans

5. Gender  Gender gap has grown in recent years  Many more women elected to high government positions today  Sex-sensitive issues (abortion, pornography) provoke different views among the sexes  Million Mom March of 2000 is an example of demonstration for stricter gun control laws

Other outlying factors  Income  Those with higher incomes  more conservative and supportive of Republicans  Those with lower incomes  more liberal and supportive of Democrats  Opinion Leaders  Mass Media

Now that you know…  All of these factors have SOME influence on our political ideologies!  So, let’s have a look at yours  So, let’s have a look at yours  Let’s begin the “Personal Political Profile”