Gov. Chapter 9 Vocabulary

Public Opinion

Public Opinion

In the months leading up to the election, voters are bombarded with television ads aimed at influencing __________ about the candidates.

The sum of many individuals opinions, beliefs, or attitudes about a public person or issue.

Agents of socialization

Many agents, or forces, play a part in political socialization. They include family, school, religion, friends, and the mass media. This diagram illustrates these _______________.

Opinion makers

Instead we look to influential ____________ for information and advice. These _________ may be journalists, public officials, business leaders, or activists.

Straw polls

The magazine had a record of predicting presidential elections accurately since 1916 using _________. It is an informal survey of opinion conducted by a show of hands or some other means of counting preference.

Scientific sampling

The secret of Gallup's success was his careful use of _________. Sampling is the process of selecting a small group of people who are representative of the whole population.

Opinion poll

His survey marked the birth of the modern ___________.

A method of measuring public opinion. This is done by asking questions of a random sample of people and using their answers to represent the views of the broader population.

Random samples

In most ___________, every individual has a chance of being selected. The number of people surveyed usually ranges from 500 to 1,500. Interviewing randomly ensures that pollsters get a representative sample of people.

Margin of error

The ____________ indicates how accurately the sample surveyed reflects the views of the target population. If it is small, you can assume that the results reported are close to the opinions of the population as a whole.

A measure of accuracy of an opinion poll. It usually decreases as the number of people surveyed increased.

Benchmark poll

A long and detailed ____________ is often used by prospective candidates to "test the waters" before beginning a campaign. Candidates use information from such polls to identify which messages to emphasize in their campaigns and which to avoid.

Tracking polls

______________ are conducted during a campaign to measure support for a candidate on a day-to-day basis. Pollsters survey groups of likely voters each night to find out how their views have been affected by the political events of that day.

Exit polls

___________ are used by campaigns and the news media to predict the winners on Election Day long before the polls close. It is a survey of voters taken at polling places just after they have cast their ballots. This is the only way to find out how different age or ethnic groups of people voted and why.

Push poll

The 1990s say the appearance of a highly suspect form of polling called the ____________. These polls are phone surveys, usually made close to Election Day, on behalf of a candidate.

Mass media

And never before in human history has so much information been made available to us through the _____________.

Means of communication that reach a large audience. These include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet.

Print media

Americans got their news from the ____________--mainly newspapers and magazines.

Broadcast media

By the 1950s, the _____________--mainly radio and television--had become major sources of news.

Electronic media

To make matters still more complex, a growing number of people now get instant news on demand using the _________--computers, cell phones, and other communication devices that connect via the Internet to the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web

...computers, cell phones, and other communication devices that connect via the Internet to the ______________. It makes billions of documents stored in computers all over the world accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

News media

A generation ago, most Americans looked to trusted _________--newspapers, news magazines, and broadcast news shows--for information on politics and public affairs. It relies on a small army of reporters, fact-checkers, and editors to research and report stories in an accurate, unbiased manner.

Blogs

News-oriented Web logs, or ___________, have emerged as another new medium. A ________ is a journal or newsletter posted in the World Wide Web.

Agenda-setting power

News editors and producers choose what to cover and what to leave out. Politicians and activists try to harness this _____________ of the media to focus attention on issues they care about.

Opinion journalism

The airwaves today are filled with _____________--the chatter of "talking heads" eager to share their views with the world.

Staged events

Public officials at all levels of government work hard to both attract and shape media coverage. The most common way to do this is by staging an event and inviting the press. Presidential press conferences are an example of _____________.

On-the-record conversation

If it is an _____________, the report can quote the public official by name.

Off-the-record conversation

If it is an ______________, the reporter can use the information but may not reveal the source.

Spin

When speaking on the record, politicians usually put their own _________ on issues. Their goal is to convince both reporters and the public that their view of events is the correct one.

The deliberate shading of information about a person or an event in an attempt to influence public opinion.

Sound bites

They also try to include colorful _____________ that capture their main points in just a few words. They know that short _________ are more likely to be run in news stories than are long speeches.

Trial balloons

Public officials sometimes use off-the-record conversations to float ____________. It is a proposal that is shared with the press to test public reaction to it. If the reaction is negative, the official can let the proposal die without ever having his or her name attached to it.

Leak

Off-the-record conversations are also used to __________ information to the press. A ________ is the unofficial release of confidential information to the media.

Media bias

What critics see as ________ may, in reality, be a reflection of how news organizations work.

Real or imagined prejudice that is thought to affect what stories journalists cover and how they report those stories.

Focus groups

They also work with ____________ to test the appeal of campaign messages. A __________ is a small group of people who are bought together to discuss their opinions on a topic of concern.

Photo op

Often this is done by creating a ____________--short for photo opportunity--for the candidate. A ____________ is a carefully staged event designed to produce memorable photographs and video images.

Horse race coverage

The first pattern, ______________, treats an election as a sporting event. They focus on who is winning and why. Issues are discussed only in terms of whether they will help or hurt the candidate's chances.

Soap opera stories

The second pattern of coverage, _____________, focuses on the ups and downs of candidates and their campaigns. They thrive on gossip, scandals, and personality.

"Gotcha" journalism

In their hunger for soap opera stories, reporters sometimes practice what has become known as _____________. The aim of _____________ is to catch the candidate making a mistake or looking foolish.

Negative campaigning

This means switching from a positive, upbeat campaign to ____________, also known as mudslinging.

Trying to win an advantage in a campaign by emphasizing negative aspects of an opponent or policy.

Mudslinging

This means switching from a positive, upbeat campaign to negative campaigning, also known as _____________. The decision to go negative is not taken lightly.

Political Socialization

Political scientists call this process ____________. It involves learning about the values, beliefs, and processes that underlie a political system in order to participate in it effectively. The formation of these beliefs and values begins early in life and continues throughout adulthood.