POLI Political Opinion and Political Participation

What is the main point of 10-2 in the Smith Reader?

Political polarization has grown and affects the competitiveness of elections

What is the main point of 10-3 in the smith reader?

People are influenced by the media, however only to a degree since they already have political attitudes

What is the main point of 10-4 in the Smith Reader?

American’s support for democratic institutions are weak and likely to be changed because of partisan interests

What is public opinion?

Opinions held by private individuals that government finds its prudent to heed

Public Opinion is part of what?

Democracy

What is the minimum criteron for Democracy?

Government concern for the people

What is the delegate model?

A rep should listen to constituent views and vote on what they want

What is the Trustee model?

A rep should listen to constituents BUT formulate their own opinions

On average are Americans interested in politics?

No they are more interested in football and celebrities

Do most voters know about economics, budget or candidate positions?

No

What did a study in the 1960s reveal about American voters?

Opinions change at random and people just do not care

What was a dangerous finding of the voter study?

1/3 of respondents will offer opinions on fake polices

What is a non attitude?

Lack of opinion or opinions so weakly held it does not affect voting

What is the Theory of Retrospective Voting?

Voters vote based on passed performance

What are some arguments for the Theory of Retrospective Voting?

Voters are smart and then can evaluate incumbents

What are some arguments against the Theory of Retrospective Voting?

Voters cannot correctly asses national conditions and do not think in the long term

Voting is an investment in what?

A collective good

Why is it rationally ignorant to not vote?

It is a costly activity which outweighs the benefits

What do people who use trust base their votes on?

Party label, endorsements, and traits of the candidate

What is Bartel’s Warning?

Not all heuristics lead to rational decisions

Where do political opinions come from?

Socialization

What is socialization?

The process of learning underlying beliefs and values

What is the most consequential elements of socialization?

Party identification and ideology

When does socialization mostly happen?

Late teens to early 20s

Is the US mostly liberal or conservative?

Both

What is the RAS model?

A model that describes how people develop political opinons

What does the letters in the RAS model stand for?

Receive, Accept, and Sample

What is receive in RAS?

All the political information that people are exposed to

What is accept in RAS?

The subset of info that people keep/accept into their brains

What is sample in RAS?

The answer people give to a public opinion question represents a sample from all the information in their brains

What is public opinion oriented around?

Party leader

How does voter turnout in the US compare with other countries?

Lower than other countries

Why is voter turnout lower in the US compared to other countries?

People are not automatically registered and the dual party system

What are predictors of who votes?

Education, income, and age