1. CHAPTER 7
PUBLIC OPINION

2. PUBLIC OPINION A. Explaining the Opinion-Policy Gap republican model
substantive goals vs. peoples’ wants
polling
accuracy issues
margin of error
active opinion vs. public opinion

3. PUBLIC OPINION B. Measuring Public Opinion Historic perspective
how much confidence should we have in polling?
Accuracy
poll
random sampling
margin of error (sampling error)
exit polls
Gallup’s record

4. II. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
How does public opinion influence who wins elections, which bills get passed, etc.?
opinion saliency
opinion stability
opinion-policy congruence

5. II. POLITCAL SOCIALIZATION
political socialization
process by which background characteristics influence an individual’s political views
A. Agents of socialization
Family
Religion
Gender Gap
School
Community/Peers

6. II. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
B. Cleavages in Public Opinion
Income/Socio-economic class
Race and ethnicity
African American voters
Latino/hispanic voters
Asian voters
Region
urban vs. rural attitudes

7. II. POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
C. Cross-cutting cleavages
Presence in any ONE group cannot solely explain a person’s political views
Reason why social class is NOT enough

8. III. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
“a set of consistent and coherent beliefs about political policies”
how can you measure whether people have a political ideology?
self-identification
searching for “constraint”
Pew polling: Trends in party identification
self survey

9. III. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
liberalism vs. conservatism
classic liberalism vs. traditional conservatism
modern liberalism vs. modern conservatism
modern labels
pure liberals
pure conservatives
libertarians
populists

10. III. POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
A. Issue Areas
Economic Policy (issue of government regulation)
Social Policy (issue of individual freedom)
Pure Liberal
Pure Conservative
Libertarian
Populist

11. III. Political Ideology
B. Liberal v Conservative
Extremely liberal: 2%
Liberal: 10%
Slightly liberal: 14%
Moderate: 30%
Slightly cons: 20%
Conservative: 21%
Extremely cons: 4%

12. III. Political Ideology
Political Elites.
elites and activists display greater ideological consistency
How do elites influence public opinion and public policy?
How is the influence of elites on the public limited?

13. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
CHAPTER 8
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

14. I. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
A.THE ISSUE OF NONVOTING
Defining the “problem”
voter turnout v. voter registration
voting age population (VAP)
voting eligible population (VEP)
removes from VAP those are disqualified for some reason
percentage of registered voters
registration is the real issue in the U.S.

15. VOTING AGE POPULATION

16. TURNOUT AS A PERCENTAGE OF VAP

17. TURNOUT AS A PERCENTAGE OF REGISTERED VOTERS

18. VOTING COMPARED Country % VAP Turnout Compulsory Voting Laws Automatic
Registration
Australia 94
Yes No
Austria 91
Belgium 93
Canada 76
Germany 84
Greece 85
Italy
Norway
Sweden 86
United Kingdom 75
USA 53

19. I. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
B. Proposed solutions
Reduce Institutional Barriers
“Get out the vote” drives
Motor Voter Bill (1993)
Early voting
Voter ID Laws?

20. II. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MASS DEMOCRACY
A. Movement from state to federal standards
early state prerogatives:
property requirements
Australian Ballot (1890)
limits on state prerogatives:
1842 Law regarding House elections
womens’ suffrage
black suffrage
18 to 21 year-old suffrage
direct election of Senators

21. II. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MASS DEMOCRACY
B. African American voting rights
15th Amendment
weakened by Supreme Court
Southern state response:
literacy test
poll tax
white primaries
grandfather clauses
voter intimidation
Voting Rights Act of 1965

22. II. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MASS DEMOCRACY

23. II. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MASS DEMOCRACY
C. Womens’ voting rights
western states
19th Amendment (1920)
changes in election outcomes?
D. Youth Vote
Voting Rights Act of 1970
26th Amendment (1971)

24. II. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD MASS DEMOCRACY
E. Theories of declining voter participation (voter turnout)
popular interest in elections
lack of competitiveness between the parties
more accurate/honest vote counts
registration issues in the U.S.
top three reasons cited for non-voting:
Not registered
Not convenient
Not interested in candidates

25. WHY DON’T AMERICANS VOTE?
Part I
Part 2
George Carlin on voting

26. III. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
A. Verba and Nie’s six forms of political participation (1972)
Inactives (22%)
Complete activists (11%)
Voting specialists (21%)
Campaigners (15%)
Communalists (20%)
Parochial participants (4%)

27. VERBA AND NIE: CONCLUSIONS
Role of socio-economic status (income, occupation, and class)
older, more educated, and wealthier participate more
Definitions of political participation
voting is only one area
majority of political participation takes place in between elections

28. III. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
B. Influences on voter participation
education
statistics:
4 years college: 80%
1-3 years college: 70%
High School: 50-60%
Less HS: less 40%

29. III. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
Age
statistics
65+: 70%
45-64: 70%
25-44: 60%
18-24: 40%

30. III. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
Religion
church culture
voter mobilization
Gender
Race
impact of SES (socioeconomic status)

31. III. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS
C. The Meaning of participation rates
voting rates vs. participation rates
proliferation of elections in the U.S.
turnout rates and SES

32. RECENT TRENDS Presidential Elections Congressional midterm elections
statistics
chart
Congressional midterm elections