Chapter 08p Phil Haas Sydney Stavn Emily Hillison

The Formation of Public Opinion

What is Public Opinion? Public opinion is the attitudes held by specific groups and people on political matters. It’s even more readily defined as the complex collection of the opinions of many different people. It is never a single or undivided view on a subject.

Different publics and Definition A public is defined as the group who hold their opinion on a controversial subject. There are more publics than anyone would care to count in the U.S. These groups usually have conflicting views with one another, and engage in many arguments and debates to support their own veiws.

Family and Education People are not born with their views. All the views that any one person holds are instilled in them at a young age and are enforced for most of their life. Two of the biggest and most important influences in this situation are families and the education system. Children latch onto what their parents say to them, and the schools teach them what they need to know. Most kids use these two to set up their opinions in life.

Mass Media Mass Media are means of communication that reach wide, dispersed audiences. This one thing has the single greatest effect on public opinion. Television, radio and printed materials are the largest forms of Media, and every single home in America uses these mediums.

Peer Groups Readily defined as the people whom one associates with most often, usually meaning coworkers, friends and family. Peer Groups are as influential to a person’s own views as much as the Media or any other source of Public Opinion.

Opinion Leaders Opinion Leaders are the head figure in their form of Public Opinion. These figureheads are usually the driving force behind the media and the peer groups they control. Opinion leaders can be anyone from Frank at the water cooler at work to the President of the U.S.

Historic Events History has a big influence on Public Opinion because no one wants the past to repeat itself. Many media sources point to the past to show what could happen in our current time. Some opinion leaders use the past as the basis of many of their arguments.

Measuring Public Opinion

The most common forms of tabulating public opinion are voting, lobbying, books, pamphlets, magazine and newspaper articles, talk shows on radio and TV, and editorials. Most of these can be eschewed and changed around by the interest groups, but these are usually reliable and trustworthy sources.

Elections In Democracy, the elections and votes of the people are used to voice their opinions. Most political candidates use the voting numbers as their claimed mandate for their elections. In reality, polls and elections are usually not very accurate because there is such a small range of choices offered on ballots.

Interest Groups Interest groups are usually large corporations that use their power and reach to influence almost all of politics. They use their representatives and other forms of influence to exert their power over the government and political candidates. Some people say that the government is actually just run by corporations, and Interest groups are all the proof they need.

Polls Polls are considered to be the only really accurate gauge of public opinion to use in democracy. The earlier forms of polls were somewhat inaccurate and were easily faked and changed. Today, scientific polls are more common and are usually far more accurate than their predecessors.

Polling Process Scientific Polling is a very complex process involving 5 steps. Defining the Universe (target population), Constructing a sample (a representative of the population), Preparing valid questions (intelligent queries), Interviewing (questioning the population), Analyze and report findings (finishing the poll).

Evaluating the Polls Polls are usually considered more reliable because they come straight from the population. The only problem that can come from polls are the pollsters (the poll readers) shaping the outcome of the poll itself.

The Mass Media

The Role of Mass Media A medium is a form of communication, and there are so many different forms of media in today’s society that the Media can reach anyone from anywhere. Although media does not have a part in government, it’s influence cannot be understated in political races and arguments/debates.

Television Television may be the single greatest driving force between public and government connection. News shows on TV are almost all based on political activity, and TV is the easiest form of news and world activity that the world turns to. It only makes sense that the government would use TV to it’s advantage.

Newspapers and Magazines Newspapers and Magazines used to be the single largest influential force on peoples views, but has now been forced to take the backseat under the weight of the Internet and TV. Some magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, are still heavily read, but newspapers are slowly starting to fade into the past with the advent of technology.

The Media and Politics The Public Agenda The public agenda is the list of societal and governmental problems that politicians agree all need tending and fixing. The media has the power to get our population to focus on these things and to increase the publics awareness of certain global or domestic problems that need the attention of the government.

The Media and Politics Electoral Politics In the past, governmental parties used the influence on each other to recruit the representatives to run for public office. With the rise of the media in recent years, political parties have strayed from the old tactics to using these forms of communication to speak directly to the people and not have to use representatives everywhere.

Limits on Media Influence Even with the media’s far reaching influence, over half of the people who vote have no real understanding of their candidates intention or plans. Some simply vote with the more popular candidate, and some people simply rely on looks and actions. TV has become the biggest battle ground for candidates, but these political groups spend too much time blasting each other and not enough time properly presenting their platforms.

Sources Magruders American Government