Public Opinion and Political Socialization

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Public Opinion and Political Socialization

• Chapter 11

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Political Socialization

• A learning process through which we acquire our
  ideas, opinions, and beliefs about politics.
• It never really ends.

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Major Agents of Political Socialization

• Family
• School
• Peers
• Mass Media
• Events
• Social Groups

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Racial and Ethnic Attitudes on Selected Issues
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Gender Differences on Political Issues
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Through Political Socialization

• We eventually form an Ideology
• This ideology is our set of core beliefs about
  politics.
• It is a foundation from which we judge everything
  else about politics.

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Our core ideology is always the last thing to
change. We will usually change lesser opinions
first.

• I will try to provide an example.

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How do we form opinions?

• Ideology
• Personal Interests
• Political Knowledge
• Cues from leaders

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Political Scientists are somewhat worried by
surveys

• Which show declining levels of political
  knowledge.
• For example, less than 30 of Americans surveyed
  in 2004 knew who their Representative was in the
  U.S. House.

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So if you take political knowledge outwhat are
we left with?

• Ideology
• Personal Interests
• Cues from leaders

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Keep in mind that cues from leaders can include
opinion leaders.
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Do you think that this has any connection to
current politics?
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Is it easier to take a political position by
relying on ideology?

• What must one do to take a stand relying on the
  other areas?

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What about the level of certainty with an
ideology?

• Does my level of conviction affect my likeliness
  to compromise or discuss topics openly?

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Would a high level of ideological conviction make
me a better teacher?
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Would a high level of ideological conviction make
you a better student?
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Does a high level of ideological conviction make
us better citizens in a democracy?
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What is Public Opinion?

• Public opinion is 'what the people think about an
  issue or set of issues at any given point in
  time' and opinions are normally measured by
  opinion polls.

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How We Measure Public Opinion

• In order for a poll to be reliable, it must have
  a random sample.

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The easiest way to poll the U.S. is by random
telephone survey.
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Public Opinion Polls

• Polls are interviews or surveys of a sample of
  citizens used to estimate how the public feels
  about an issue or set of issues.

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Measuring Public Opinion

• In general, do not trust a poll that does not
  tell you the question wording, the sampling
  method, and the ways in which respondents were
  contacted.
• Reputable pollsters will also tell you the number
  of respondents (the 'n') and the error rate ( or
  - 5).
• Any poll that tells you to call 555-5554 for yes
  and 555-5555 for no is unscientific and
  unreliable. This is not a random sample at all!

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Types of Polls

• Tracking polls--continuous surveys that enable a
  campaign to chart its daily rise and fall in
  popularity. These may be a decent measure of
  trends.
• Exit polls--polls conducted at polling places on
  election day.

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Some social scientists have experimented with

• Deliberative polls--a new kind of poll first
  tried in 1996.
• A relatively large scientific sample of Americans
  (600) were selected for intensive briefings,
  discussions, and presentations about issue
  clusters including foreign affairs, the family,
  and the economy.

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Who uses polls?

• Politicians
• Political Parties
• Interest Groups

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Why?

• To help campaign strategy.
• To lobby members of government.
• Because the results are private.
• The poll can be conducted at any time.
• The poll can ask specific questions for the
  candidate or party.

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Polls do not do well at

• Measuring intensity of an opinion.
• They also have problems with
• Providing an optimum range of responses.

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Recently, pollsters say it is becoming harder to
do phone surveys.

• Rise of cell phone use
• Do not call list
• Public anger over intrusion