BELLWORK What is public opinion? (Page 514)

REMINDER (Periods 3, 4, 6 & 7) Chapter 18 Assessment: 1-20 Pages Due Thursday, April 16th

PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH PRESENTATION (Period 4)

COLLECT (Periods 1 & 5) Pass forward Interest Group Posters.

TAKE NOTES OF ANYTHING IN: BLACK

Shaping Public Opinion CHAPTER 18, SECTION 3 Essential Question: How can public opinion be changed?

The Nature of Public Opinion Public opinion is the ideas and attitudes that a significant number of Americans hold about government and political issues. Public opinion is significant to politics because it has an enormous influence on gov’t. There are three factors that characterize the nature of public opinion. Diversity: opinions are varied since nobody thinks exactly the same. Communication: opinions must be expressed to gov’t, like through interest groups. Significant Numbers: a substantial amount must hold the same opinion in order for gov’t to consider the opinion.

Political Socialization Personal background and life experiences have important influences on the way opinions form. Throughout the course of one’s life, their political beliefs and attitudes will be influenced by factors such as family, school/church peers, social characteristics like economic/social status, and the mass media. Political efficacy refers to a person’s belief that he or she has an impact on politics. Some people do not believe that they can impact the system while others believe that their actions can be effective and lead to changes within the government.

Political Culture, Ideology and Public Policy Political culture is a set of basic values and beliefs about a nation and its government that most citizen share. For example, a belief in liberty and freedom is one of the key elements of the American political culture. An ideology is a set of basic beliefs about life, culture, gov’t, and society. The majority of Americans determine their positions on an issue-by-issue basis rather than from a strict ideology. These ideologies include liberal, conservative and moderate.

Quick-Write Although we are looking further into the mass media next week, try to answer this with the knowledge you already have, “Do you think that the mass media have too much influence on American public opinion? Why or why not.” (4-6 Sentences)

Measuring Public Opinion CHAPTER 18, SECTION 4 Essential Question: How is public opinion measured?

Nonscientific Methods In order for politicians to know what the public is thinking, methods are used to figure out public opinion. Nonscientific methods of analyzing public opinion include using political parties and interest groups, mass media, letters and s, straw pols, and political websites. A straw poll does not use scientific procedures to choose the respondents, rather, it uses people who want to partake in the poll voluntarily. This usually causes a biased sample of the population. Biased sample is polling a small group that does not accurately represent the larger population.

The Science of Public Opinion Polls Fill-in-the Blank: The smaller the ____-_-____ the more _____ a poll is.

Scientific Polling Most politicians today use scientific polls to measure public opinion. Scientific polling involves three basic steps: 1.Selecting a sample of the group to be questioned 2.Presenting a carefully worded question or questions to the individuals in the sample. 3.Interpreting the results. A sampling error is a measurement of how much the sample results of a scientific poll might differ from the actual number. Usually, the results of a poll will say that the error is only plus or minus 3 percent off.

Scientific Polling Polling has improved greatly since the 1930s, however it is still far from being completely accurate, and it never will be completely accurate. An election exit poll is a poll taken immediately after voters have exited their polling station. Usually news broadcasters such as Fox News and CNN will conduct exit polls to gain an indication as to how an election has turned out because in some elections the actual results might take days to count.

Pros & Cons of Public Opinion Polls Write down at least three pros and three cons mentioned in the video.

Closing Activity Do you think the pros of public polling out weigh the cons? Should this practice be eliminated or is it too important? What could be done to public polling in order to make it more reliable? Is there another way you can think of that would be more accurate and beneficial than public polling? (10-14 Sentences)

Presidential Debate (Period 3, 4, 6 & 7) Tomorrow, you will receive a list of possible questions you might be asked during the presidential debate on Wednesday. Make sure to study the questions so you will be prepared.