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| Why does Public Opinion matter? |
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Definition
| Democracy Gov't should reflect the will of the people, and average citizens do not always have informed opinions about every issue, and thus are open to influence |
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| the values and attitudes that people have about issues, events, and personalitites |
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| a persons basic orientations to politics |
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| a cohesive set of beliefs that form a general philosopy about govt |
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| specific view about a particular issue, personality or event |
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| How are political values formed? |
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| Our underlying beliefs tend to shape how we approach new information and those underlying beliefs are shaped by our life's experiences, especially those involving family upbringing social groups education and the general political climate |
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| four factors of political socialization and foundation |
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-family
-social groups
-current political conditions
-education |
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| how we come to form beliefs |
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| Example: Stories we hear growing up in our families can be highly influential if they are coherent and consistent |
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| Example: If people of same backgrounds tend to have similar life experiences, then it is possible those experiences will shape their understanding of the political world |
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| Example: Due to their experiences in life, men and women often see issues differently |
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| Example: Religions can be powerful if it repeats stories, ceremonies, and rituals that tell its members about who they are and how they should see the world |
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| Group membership can also lead to conformity through ___________ |
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| Example of Influences: Professors that were influenced by the Vietnam war and are liberal |
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Govt involvement in economy to protect workers, Expansion of social services, Efforts on behalf of the poor, mnorities, women, consumers, and the environment, rights for the accused, and separation of the church and state
Example: Affirmative Action (disagreement on how Govt should deal with different situations) |
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| Liberalism (foreign Affairs) |
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| Favor arms control, opposition to expansion of nuclear weapons, support aid to poor nations, Opposition to use of American troops to influence the domestic affairs of developing countries, and support for international organizations |
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| Opposed to social and economic engineering such as wealth redistribution and affirmative action, Favor light regulation of business, low taxation, traditional family structures, school prayer, Concern for victims of crimes over perpetrators |
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| Conservatism (Foreign Affairs) |
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| Support for military power, distrust of entanglements with international organizations, poorer countries must bring themselves up through market-based reforms |
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| Ideology plays a role _________ |
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| Not all issues are clearly defined ideologically, Most citizens are not all that ideological, many issues can be framed in multiple ways |
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The more you know the more you can:
-integrate new knowledge into our interpretations, understand what new data is important, come to see the political world in all of its complexity |
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| Three very powerful sources of influence over pubic opinion after initial political foundation has been formed are_________ |
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| Government, Private Groups, Media |
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| Media Power in American Politics |
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| Priming, Framing, and agenda setting |
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| Shaping how the audience evaluates leaders, event, or issues |
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| Provides us with information that we then use to interpret our beliefs and views |
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| 3 out of 4 newspapers and radio stations are owned by a handful of companies |
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| Media ownership and political equality |
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| To be influential in politics, one must be able to enter the marketplace of ideas via the media, and as fewer and fewer owners buy up the media outlets, minority viewpoints may have a harder time getting covered |
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| nationalization of the news |
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| all news is the same nationally, media is scared to cover other stories than their competitors, americans share a common body of knowledge, and this tends to drown out minority or fringe opinions |
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| push stories that would normally not be covered by large newspapers |
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| Factors that influence the news |
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| Journalists, topics, audience |
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| always accusations of political bias in reporting (reporters tend to lean liberal, owners are more conservative) at top media outlets are also very wealthy, tend to select topics that they themselves find interesting |
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| tend to involve conflicts, amusement, or gripping images and gives americans the idea that politics is completely polar and there is always conflict |
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| politicians are subjects of the news, but also work to shape it (develop positive relationships with reporters, leak stories, issue press releases) |
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| media needs to tell stories that will retain their audience, and elite papers that shape the agenda cater to wealthy and powerful, influencing the stories covered by other outlets as well |
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| Three ways the media can shape the publics understanding of politics in profound ways |
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-Civil Rights movement
-Vietnam War
-Watergate |
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| focusing attention on certain subjects |
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| giving meaning to events to shape how they are interpreted |
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activities designed to influence govt
Examples: voting-fundamental, nonelectoral activities include writing letters, signing petitions, donating to causes, contacting elected officials, and joining political organizaions |
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| majority believe its important is important but no one does it. |
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| Different forms of political participation |
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| Public Relations, Litigation,protest |
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| an effort to sway public opinion on behalf of an issue (interest groups trying to bring notice to an issue that they are concerned about) |
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attempting to change the law through the judicial system for example posting the ten commandments in the courthouse
-civil disobedience: intentionally breaking a law in order to bring it into the court system so it can be overturned
-test cases: carefully selected cases intended to get a law either favorably interpreted or overturned |
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| protected by the First Amendment, as long as it is peaceful and opportunity for like-minded individuals to gather together and voice their opinions as a show of strength |
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the right to vote (aka franchise)
-americans are taught since childhood that this is their first and foremost responsibility as citizens
Example: comedian doing a skit on a right to vote |
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| Expansion of the Franchise |
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-Initially limited to wealthy white males (wealth limits disappeared by early 1800's)
-Expanded by the 15th Amendment for race (1870)
-19th amendment granted suffrage to women (1920)
-24th amendment prevents use of poll taxes to restrict suffrage
-26th amendment lowered voting age to 18 (1971) |
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| current levels of vote participation are very _____ |
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| low, and have been low historically, lower than other country, and most demographic groups are lower than affluented whites |
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-Tend to vote as a bloc for the Democratic party
-Still feel they are united through their experiences as a race, despite large economic disparities |
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| The "sleeping giant"sleeps no more, and 7.4% of 2008 presidential vote was cast by Latinos |
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| -Asian Pacific Islanders, lower turnout rates than other groups, harder to conceptualize as a voting bloc |
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| gender gap: a distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men; since 1980, more men have noted republican and more women have voted democratic in presidential elections |
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| women have slightly ____ success rates when running for open seats |
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| religious identity and participation |
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| -given that many americans identify strongly with their religions, it is no surprise that many people of the same faith tend to vote a s a bloc |
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| The entrance of evangelicals transformed politics |
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| Highly organized, made morality a political issue |
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| older voters vote in much higher proportions than younger ones do |
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status in society based on level of education, income, and occupational prestige
-higher SES individuals participate in politics more than lower SES individuals do |
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| Three things that have an effect on participation |
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| Resources, Civic Engagement, Recruitment |
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| people who have more money, education, or better jobs may have more time to go, transportation to vote |
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When people are connected to others in their community they will be more willing to participate
in civic activities
Example: People who are more involved in the community tend to vote more |
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| Formal Obstacles are ___________ |
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Definition
Past: Poll taxes(african americans often did not have money to pay the poll tax so could not vote), white primaries(they regulated who was to run for their party and disfranchised blacks), literacy tests (created to prevent african americans from voting)
Current: Registration system (we make people register to prevent fraud), felons(not allowed to vote), elections take place on work days( many people are not able to take off work) |
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