GoPo Chapters 6,7,8,10

Public Opinion

The distribution of the population beliefs about politics and policy issues

Demography

The science of poulation changes

Cenus

The ‘actual enummeration’ of the population which the constitution requres that the government conduct every 10 years

• Tool to understand demographic changes

• Conducted every 10 years

• First done in 1790

US Immigration

• The US a nation of immigrants (a naiton of nations (JFK)

• 13% of US population born outside of the US

John-Reed Immigration Act (1924)

Established Official quotas for immigrants based on national origin

• abolished by the Hart-Cellar Immigration and Nationality ACt of 1965

Hart-Cellar Nationality Act of 1965

Retracted the John-Reed immigration act (lowered restrictions on immgiration)

• led to the emphasis on family immigration

Melting Pot

• A tern used to characterize the United states with it’s history of immgration, and the mixing of cultures, ideas and peoples

Miniority Majority

The situation (likley beginning in the mid-21st century) where the non-Hispanic Whites will represent a minority of the US population

• Minority groups the majority

• Due to increased immigration rates, and higher birthrates among minorities

• Hispanica that largest minority, > African Americans > Asian Americans > Native Americans

• Asian Americans the most highly skileld immigrant group

Simoson-Mazzoli

• Largest reform passed for illegal immgiration

• Requiers employers document the citizenship of their empyees

• hasn’t significantly slowed illegal immigration

Political Culture

• An overall set of values widley shared within a society

• Ex. treating everyone equally

Reapportionment

• The process of reallocating seats in the House of Represenatices wvery 10 years on the basis of the results of the US Census

• If the Census finds a 5% decrease in a state poulation, the state loses 5% of its seats in the hosue

The Graying of America

• Aging population has implications for Social security

• workers have to pay for more people’s benefits

• Lowering fertility rates

pay-as-you-go system

Means current workers pay for today’s retirees

Political Socialization

The process through which individuals in a society aquire political attidudes, views, and knowledge

• Based on input from the family, media, schools, etc.

How family fuels political Socialization

• They expose children to the world of politics

• Genetic factors

• Pick up political leaning from their parents

How the Mass Media fuels political Socialization

• The MAss media is the ‘new parent’

• Many children spend a lot of time watiching TV

• Older people more likley to watch TV News

How School fuels political Socialization

• Govermnets use school to promote national loyalty

  • ex. Pledge of Allegiance

• Textbooks chosen by local and state boards

• Better educated citizens more likley to vote, and participate in politics

(polling) Sample

A relativley small portion of people who are chose in a survey to represent the whole

Random Sampling

The key technique emploted by survery researchers which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probablity of being selected for the sample

Sample Error

The level of Confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll

• More people polled = more confidence in results

Literary Digest Poll (1936)

• Poorly conducted Poll

• Falsley Predicted FDR would lose against Alf Landon

• Had many participants, but from motor vehicle records and trelephones books

  • At the time, only middle class up had cars and phones/lower class unrepresented

Random-digit Calling

A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

• Cheaper than door-to-door harassing

• Less effective than door-to-door harassing

• Federal law prohibits calling cell phones

George Gallup

• Father of Opinion Polling

• Gallup = opinion poll

• Hoped that polling could contribute to the Democratic Process

  • Wanted public’s desires to be heard outside of voting times

  • remove power out of the hands of special interest groups

Exit Poll

Public Opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electorial winners with speed and precision

• Voting Places randomly selected and workers sent to those places

• networks declare a winner before the votes are counted

Downside of Polling

• Makes the public focus more on who is ahead rather than policy questions

• Pollsters can manipulate Results with the wording of questions

What polls tell us

• Americans know little aobut politics

• The decline of trust from Americans to the government (Vietnam, Watergate)

Political Ideology

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to polical events

Liberals

• Liberals

  • 24% of US pop (2016)

  • Less military spending

  • Less use of force (esp. overseas)

  • Pro choice (abortion)

  • Oppsed to prayer in schools

  • Favor Affirmitive Action

  • Support gov. regulation in the market if it’s inpublic interest

  • Tax the rich

  • spend money to help the poor

  • Gov. shoudl adress issues that cause crome

  • Guard citizen rights

  • More young people (under 30)

    • young people less likley to vote

  • Women

  • Catholcis and Jewsih peoples

Conservatives

• 37% of US pop (2016)

• More military streignth

• support American military intervention worldwide

• Pro Life (also abortion)

• Support prayer in schools

• Oppose Affirmitive Action

• Favor the free market (unless regulation is in public interest)

• Cut taxes for all

• Limit spending on poor

• Government needs to punish criminals more

• Guarding right too much lets criminals free

• More people with political clout

Gender Gap

The regular pattern where women are more likley to support Democratic Candidates

• Women more likley to support social service spending

• women more likley tooppse high military empathy

Political Participation

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selction of political leaders or the policies they pursure

• Most common in a democracy is voting

Conventional Participation

widley accepted modes of influenceing government

• Voting

• Ringing doorbells

• running for office

Unconventional Participation

Dramatic actions as a mode of influencing government

• Protesting

• Civil disobedience

• Violence

Protesting

A form of political participation designed to acheive policy change

• More covered by the media

Civil Disobedience

conciously braking a law believed to unjust as a form of political participation

Who is the most likley to participate in pilitics

• those with a higher social status/education

• Not much coorelation between voting turnout and race

High-tech Politics

A politics in which the behavior of citizens adn policymakers and the political agende are increasingly shaped by technology

Mass Media

Television, Radio, Nespapers, magazines, and other means of populat communication

• Reaches the masses

• Key of those interested to gain contorl of the political agenda

Media events

Events that are purposly stages for the media that are significant just because the media is there

• 80% of News stories

• Mostly about image making

Press Conferences

Meeting of public officials with reporters

Who largley developed Media politics

FDR

• Fireside chats

• ~1000 press conferecnes in 12 years

Investigative Journalism

The use of in-depth ereporting to unreath scandals, scme, and scheme

• Puts reporters in adversarial relationshops with political leaders

• Rise after Watergate and Vietnam war

• Ex. Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

Print Media

Nespapers and Magazines

• Originila form of media inthe united states (First American papaer published in Philadelphia (1783)

  • 1st Amendment gives freedom to print anything

• More throughout than digital media (average of 100,000 words in newspapers, and 3,600 in news broadcasts)

• Declining business

• Onlines newspapers and blogs

Digital Media

Television, Radio and the Internet

• Radios rise inthe 1930s (WWII), and TV in the 1940-60s (Vietnam War)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Independent regulatory body to regulation communicaiton (TV,radio, satellite, etc)

• Prevent monopolies of broadcast market

• Periodic examinations of goals and performance as stations (do they serve the public interest)

• Fair treatment rules (removed)

  • Ex. If a Dem candidate of offered 30 seconds of time, a republic candidates who wants it must be offered the same amount of time at the same price (i think lol)

Narrowcasting

Media programming on cable TV focused on a particular interest and aimes at a particular audience

• can put viewers into an echochamber and make the subceptible to false information

• Poor/shallow covereage of news

• Overgeneralizations

Selective Exposure

The process through which people conciously chosoe to get the new from information sources that have viewpoints compatable with their own

Criticisms of Cable News

• Poor nes coverage (lower budgets)

• Overgeneralizations of topics

• Oversensationalization of topics

• People yelling at each other a lot

The Impact of the Internet

• Could (but doesn’t) enable citizens to be better informed about politics

• Citizens still not interested in politics

• Facilitates communications

  • more direct communication between candidates-citizens/journalists-candidates, etc

• Blogs allow political activists to share their opinions

Private Control of the Media

• Most media outlets private

• Private Media = a business = want money

  • Wants to get the largest audience possible

• Free speech allowes them to critizise politicians freely

Chains

Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over 4/5 of the nations’s daily paper circulation

What is News?

• What is timley and different

• What will catch the attention of a wide audience

Beats

Specific lcoations form which news frequently eminates, where top reporters are assigned t

• reporters become specializsts in that location

• ex. congress and Washington

Relationship between politicians and the Media

• Symbiotic

• Media relies on politicians for informatin

• Politicians rely on the media to form their public opinion

Trial Balloons

Intentional News leaks for the purpose of assessing the political reaction

Watergate Reporting

Carl Bernsteind and Bod Woodward (Washington Post) uncover evidence about the Watergate break in and cover-up

• leads to beats being sent to expose the ugly side of politics

Presenting the News

• News presented in short clips rather than the full context

• superficial coverage

  • technology allowed faster spread of information, but leads to worse coverage

Sound bites

Short Video clips of about 10 seconds

• Typically all shown from a president’s speech

• Make journalists feel as if there is little point in throroughly discussing politics

Bias in the News

• Not necessrily a liberal or conservative bias

• Bias towards a good story

• journalism still effected by the background of reporters

Talking Head

A shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camers

• Understimulating, and therefore, rearely shown by major networks

Effect of Media on Publis Opinion

• Difficult to assess (hard to separate media from other influences

• Changes the criteria in which politicians are judged

• Emphasized on one event over others

Policy Agena

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials ad other poepl eactively involveed in politics at the time

• Interest groups, politicial parties, politicians, Congress, president, etc

Policy entrepreneurs

People who invest their ‘politica capital’ in an issue

• Use press releases, press conferences, trading contacts, media events, etc

Individualism and the Media

• TV focus on individuals

• Candidates can reach individual voters easier

Party Polarization

The growing gap between the stands of the political parties on policy issues

• Makes clea difference betwen the parties

• Makes compomisr between parties harder

• Foundinf Fathers, esp Madison, feared polarization

Political Party

A team of peoples seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duty constituted election

• Interest groups not cinsidered (they dont run) but do try to influence politics

Party Competition

Battle between the Democrats and Republicans for the control of public

• Goal to win elections

Three heads potilical giants

The member of the political party ‘team’

• The party in the electorate (voters)(largest group)

• The party as an organization (national office who keep the party running between elections)

• the party in government (elected officials)

Tasks of Parties

• Pick Candidates

• Run Campaigns

• Give Cues to Voters

• Articulate Policies

• Coordinate policy making

Task of Parties (picking candidates)

• Job of the party to choose an official endorsement (nominee)

  • more input from voters over time (b/c Progressive reformers)

Task of Parties (running campaigns)

• Now more done directly by candidates (internet and TV make it easier)

Task of Parties (give cues to voters)

• Show what candidates stand for so voters know whether they want to vote for them easily

Task of Parties (articulate policies)

• ex. Democratcs clearly advocate for womans rights to abotion

• Republicans clearly show adversion to abortion rights

Coordinate Policymaking

• PResidents look for support from party members when committing to a major policy goal

Linkage institutions

The channels throught which people concern become political issues on the government’s policy agenda

• ex. elections, political parties, interest groups, media, etc

Rational Choise theory

Assumes that individuals act in their own best interest and weight the cost and benefits of possible alternatices

• Created Anthony Downs

• Voters want to maximize the odds policies they favor will be adopted bt gov

  • If party A figures out what the voters want better, they win (parties must stay close to center to broaden appeal)

• Parties must different themselves to win loyal voters

Party Image

the voter’s perception of what the Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism

PArty Identification

A citizen’s self-proclaimed preference for one party or another

Why do so many people choose not to identify with a party?

• Greater social desiriablity of being independent

• View partisian labels as negative

• See being independent as positive and constructive

• For young people independent (68% between 18 and 24)

Ticket Splitting

• Voting with one party for one office, and with another party for other offices

• Done more by independents

• means no state is completley safe for any given party

Party Organization

Political parties decentrialized and gragmented

• (Top) - National Comittee/Convention of the Party

• State PArty Organizations

• (Bottom) - Local Party organizations

Party Machines

a type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements (ex. patronage) to win votes and govern

• Many cities had then throught the New Deal (1930s)

• Rewards its members for their loyalty

Patronage

A job/promotion or contract that is given for political reasons rather than merit or competence

• one of the key inducements used by party machiens

• ex. William “Boss” Tweed

the 50 State Party systems

• Some states will well funded party organizations (Pennsylvania), some have terrible organization and funding (California)

• ex. choose between open/close primaries

Closed primaries

System where you can only vote for a party if you’ve registered with them in advance

Open Primaries

system whre voters can decide on election day who they vote for

National Party Convention

The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party’s platform

• supreme power within each party

National Committee

One of the instritutions that keeps the party operating between conventions

• Composed of represenatives from states and territories

• each state has a national committee man and women as delegates

  • democrats also include assorted governers, member of congress, and party officials

National chairperson

the person responsible for running the ongoing activities of the national party organization

• hores staff, raises money, pays bills, attend the daily duties of the party

• Typically chosen by the president (sibject to ratification by the national committee)

Coalition

A group of individuals with a common interst on which every political party depends

• Members more likley to join depending on how the party performs, and enacts policies

Party eras

Historical period in which a majority of voters cling to a party in power, which tends to win them ajority of elections

• First Party Sysyem (Federalists v. Anti federalists)

• Jackson Democrats v. Whigs

• Two Republican Eras

• New Deal Coalition

• Southern Realignment

Critical Election

An electorial ‘earthquake’ where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace one one, and the majority party if often displaced by the minority party

Party Realignment

The displacement of the majority part by the minority party, ususlaly during a critical election period

• typically associated with a major political crisis or trauma within the nation

  • ex. Gret depression, Civil war

The First Party System (1796-1824)

• Madison warns against factions in the Federalist Papers, yet Hamilton one of the buillders of political parties

  • Hailton politics and build coalitions to garner support for a national bank, and forms the Federalsit party

    • Opposed by Madison, and Jefferson

• Federalsit party fades after Federalsit John Adams loses the relection

  • And Hamilton dies :(

• Democratic-Republicans outlast the Federalists

  • later destroyed by trying to please all interests

Jacksonian Democrats v. Whigs (1828-1856)

• Andrew Jackson founds the modern political party

  • formed a Coalition with westerners, southerners, immigrants, and settled Americans

  • Martin van Buren behind the scenes architect

• Whigs oppose the Democrats

  • Henry clay, Deniel Webster

  • Pres. William Harrison and Zachary Taylor (military heros)

  • northern industralists and souther planters

Two Republican Eras (1860-1928)

• Slavery splits the whig Party and Democrats

• Republicans rise as the antislavery party (Lincoln)

  • Democrats still rule the south

• Second Republican Era

  • William Jenning Bryan proponent of Free silver (link the dollar to silver), while the general Republican party supports the gold standard, and industialization

The New Deal Coalition (1932-1964)

A coalition forged by Democrats, who dominates American politics from the 1930s-60s. Basic elements the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics, Jewish peoples, the poor, southerners, intelectuals, and African Americans.

• Hoover’s handling of the Great depression disasterous for republicans

• Reshaped the Democratic Party

  • some coalitions still exist

1968-Present: souther realignment

• Richard Nixon enacts the ‘Southern Strategy”

  • emphasized support for state rights, law and order, and strong military

  • Won over southern consercatives, and broke the Democratic party hold on the south

Party dealignment

A gradual disengagement of people from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification

Third parties

Electorial contenders other than the two major parties that never win elections and never will

• Three types

  • Parties that promote a certain cause (Libertarianism, socialism)

  • Splinter parties (T. Roosevelt’s Progresices)

  • An Extension of a popular individual (Ross Perot)

• allows voters to vote for someone rather than the Dem or Rep candidate

• Two party system entrenched in American politics