1. Public Opinion and the Media
Chapter 9
Essential Question:
To what extent do the media influence your political views?

2. How our politics form
Political socialization is the formation of beliefs and values from early childhood to old age.
Agents of socialization – institutions that teach us
Parents/family – likely our #1 teaching agent
School – teach respect, participation
Religion – affects political views
Peers – others’ opinions matter
Gender & ethnicity – we may ID with these groups
News media – what we pay attention to

3. Public opinion
= the sum of many individual opinions about a person or issue.
Shaped by…
Special interest groups
Journalists, “talking heads” on TV, etc.
Politicians – speak of “what the people think”
Public opinion as…
Guide – it gives direction for our gov’t
Guard – it protects against unpopular actions
Glue – agreement on fundamental principles, despite disagreements on details

4. Common persuasive techniques
The tricks to get us to think the way they want.
Name-Calling – personal attacks to distract from the real issues
Transfer – symbols or images that evoke emotions
Bandwagon – impression that everyone feels this way
Plain Folks – everyday images/language to show that the candidate is a regular person

5. Common persuasive techniques (cont.)
Testimonial – having a well-known celebrity endorse a candidate
Card-Stacking – facts, statistics, evidence that support only one side
Glittering Generalities – vague, sweeping statements that appeal emotionally, but lack specifics
Humor – something funny often means it will be remembered

6. Polling Straw polls – simply, “raise your hand if you support…”
Scientific sampling – reflects the whole population; this is used by opinion polls
The difference…straw polls may NOT reflect the whole population
Ex.: mailing out a poll only reaches certain people and only certain people respond (same with phone polls)
Margin of error – this is a +/- accuracy stat (usually +/- 4%)
Tracking polls – measure support day-by-day
Exit polls – asked just after people vote
These polls are used/abused by candidates, media, & special interest groups