Chapter 6 Public Opinion and Political Socialization

Public Opinion Often literally no majority opinion Usually taken from a sampling The politically relevant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly Sometimes well informed and sometimes not

Measurement of Opinion Opinion Polls 1.Include a relatively small sample 2.Estimates populace views based on sample 3.Sample often chosen at random 4.Sampling errors can occur when not enough folks are polled

Problems with Polls 1.Sampling errors 2.Questions worded in a biased manner 3.Unfamiliarity of polling sample to question Used and relied upon in American Government regardless of any problems.

Political Socialization The learning process by which people acquire their political opinions, beliefs and values. Usually starts in the family Lifelong process

Agents of Political Socialization 1.Family 2.Schools 3.Media 4.Peers 5.Political institutions and leaders 6.Churches

Ideology Ideology: a consistent pattern of political attitudes that stem from a core belief (example: belief in environmentalism) Political ideologies include liberals, conservatives, libertarians and populists (see p. 208 of text)

Group Thinking Many citizens relate more to groups that they belong to rather than an ideology Examples of groups: church, economic class, region (Northwesterners), race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Sometimes groups can crosscut.

Political Identification An individual’s ingrained sense of loyalty to a political party The United States has a weak two party system, meaning that Democrats and Republicans are predominant but other parties (ex. Green) can exist too.

Public Policy Public Opinion can influence policy Example: growing discussion on the environment has lead to an increase in hearings and discussion on what new policies need to exist.