Studied by 8 people
Public opinion
How people feel about things
Issue public
A smaller group to which an issue is important
Saliency
The degree to which an issue is important to a certain individual/group
Intensity
How strongly people feel about a particular issue
Stability
How much dimensions of public opinion change
Referendum
Submitted to popular vote to accept/reject legislation, measures public opinion on specific issues
Benchmark polls
Conducted by a campaign when a candidate initially announces
Tracking polls
Performed multiple times with the same sample to track changes in opinion
Entrance polls
Collected on Election Day as voters go to cast their vote
Exit polls
Conducted at polling places, targeting voting districts that represent the public and poll random voters leaving the place
Stratified random sampling
Variation of random sampling; population divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographics
Sampling error
How wrong poll results may be
Political socialization
The process by which a person develops political attitudes
Political socialization factors
Family, location, religious institutions, mass media, higher education
Ideology
A coherent set of thoughts and beliefs about politics and government
Conservative beliefs
Less government interference; oppose most federal regulations (laissez-faire economics); social conservatives support government involvement in social issues
Liberal beliefs
More government assistance to help social/economic problems; government regulation of economy; separation of church and state
Moderate/independent beliefs
no coherent ideology; prefer common sense over philosophical principles
Ideological/political behavior factors
Race/ethnicity, religion, gender, income level, region
Note 
Flashcard (25)