Chapter 7 Public Opinion

Public Opinion-what people think about issues How to explain gaps between what the government does and what the people want   the government doesn’t do daily what the people want it is not always easy to know what the public want

U of Cincinnati asked 1200 local residents what they thought about passage of the Monetary Control Bill 21% favored the bill 25% opposed the bill Rest said they had never thought about it

Scientific Polling -can capture the opinions of 300 million Americans by polling 1500 people -determine universe of people to be sampled and methods to sample opinion Surveys, phone calls, exit polls, question types -poll a random sample of people in the universe -difference between the results of two surveys is called the sampling error

Issues of Public opinion Opinion saliency-some people care more about certain issues than other people do Opinion stability-on some issues opinions are steady and on others they are fluid Opinion policy congruence-government being sync or out of sync with public opinion

Political Socialization The process by which personal and other background traits influence one’s views about politics and government

The Parents and family-in regards to Party ID

Religious tradition-bigger on social and moral issues than other issues

The gender Gap-Women more liberal, men more conservative on issues

Gender Gap

Schooling and education-more liberal the more educated you are Schooling and education-more liberal the more educated you are???? Used to be true!

Social Class-class voting has declined in face of moral and cultural issues

Race and ethnicity-sharp differences in voting and public opinion between black and white

Region-South tends to be more conservative on moral and cultural issues, less hospitable to labor interests