Studied by 184 peoplepolitical culture
dominant set of beliefs, customs, traditions, and values that define the relationship between citizens and government
American core political values
individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, and limited government
individualism
the belief that individuals should be responsible for themselves and for the decisions they make immigrants in particular had a strong sense of individualism as they believed they could carve out a new life in America on their own
equal opportunity
everybody should have the same opportunities to succeed Americans also value political equality: everyone should be able to influence government Americans do not support equality of outcome; they value hard work and innovation often conflicts with individualism, free enterprise and limited government
free enterprise (laissez-faire)
an economic system in which government intrudes as little as possible Americans like a free market economy with limited government, so they receive few social services, but pay fewer taxes compared to other nations
command and control economy
an economic system in which the government has a lot of control over the economy
mixed economy
economic decisions are left to consumers and businesses, but the government influences these decisions with taxes and regulation The U.S' economy is a mixed economy
rule of law
no one, including government officials, is above the law checks and balances (e.g impeachment) and the social contract (citizens give up freedoms to the government for protection) help establish rule of law
limited government
government has limited powers so it cannot take away the rights of the people free and fair elections, checks and balances, and federalism help establish a limited government
need based assistance
policies that provide economic support to those in need financially unlike other programs like Social Security and Medicare, it only supports specific people who qualify based on income goes against individualism and free enterprise, but expands the creations of a safety net for those in need, another American value
political socialization
The experiences and factors that shape an individual's political values, attitudes and behaviors
political ideology
an individual's set of beliefs about government and politics
political identification
the degree to which an individual identifies with and supports a political party
factors of political socialization
peers, family, school, religious organizations, generational effect and life-cycle effect
family's influence on political socialization
biggest contributor to political socialization people in the same family typically have the same political beliefs parents give children their first exposure to politics through the news programs they watch and discussions they have
school's influence on political socialization
schools often require students to take government and politics related courses allows for students of different backgrounds to share and discuss possible conflicting beliefs
religious organization's influence on political socialization
a church's or religion's position on a specific topic may influence the beliefs of its followers (e.g opposition to abortion and Catholics)
civic organization's influence on poltical socialization
gives citizens an opportunity to interact with government officials and learn about certain campaigns
generational effect
people from the same generation that have lived through the same historical events share similar beliefs
life-cycle effect
people at different stages in life have different beliefs about government (e.g college graduate vs. retirees) young people tend to also vote less than their older counterparts
globalization
increasing interconnectedness of people, businesses, and countries throughout the world
multinational corporations
companies that make transport and market goods and services in two or more countries influential and difficult for the U.S to control and regulate when overseas
intergovernmental organizations
organization made of numerous countries countries pay a membership fee and sometimes give up some sovereignty for the benefit of being in the group (e.g EU)
nongovernmental organization
independent groups outside of the government that work towards a public cause
U.S and globalizaiton
U.S promotes more free trade focus is on regional trade with Mexico and Canada (e.g USMCA) globalization lowered prices for consumers globalization created international competition for domestic producers U.S and its allies are always looking to spread and assert their influence but it is halted by global forces beyond their control
globalization and democracy
globalization encourages democracy harder for authoritarian states to operate without consequences (e.g North Korea)
negatives of globalization
outsourcing erosion of of traditional cultures potential to connect those who want to incite violence
outsourcing
when a multinational corporation moves its business to a place with cheaper labor costs or where production is more efficient job loss for American employees in numerous industries
affirmative action
policy made to favor individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously
public opinion
sum of individual attitudes about government, policies, and issues
concerns about public opinion and polling
citizens may not be educated enough or have enough information to form good opinions or they may not have an opinion at all some surveys or methods used to get an idea of public opinion may not always provide accurate information officials are elected to lead not to just follow whatever the public wants
focus group
a small group of individuals assembled for conversation about specific issues cannot 100% accurately represent the entire population due to small size
elections (public opinion)
can be used to gauge the support for a certain party or individual (e.g Midterm gauges support for Biden) not everybody shows up to vote and generally only gauges opinion on a small set of issues
scientific polling
representative poll of randomly selected respondents with a statistically significant sample size (large enough sample size), using neutral language
sample
a small group of individuals taken from a population that are polled to make an assumption about the public opinion of the whole population
random selection
a method of choosing members for the sample so that everybody has an equal chance of being a part of the sample (it is random) help to ensure that the sample is representative of the population A sample that is not obtained randomly provides unreliable data (e.g straw polls and voluntary polls)
representative sample
a sample that reflects the demographics of the population
weighting
a procedure in which the survey is adjusted according to the demographics of the larger population
sampling error
the margin of error of a poll, a value that is added/subtracted to account for the difference in the projected and actual results of a poll (e.g a poll with a margin of error of 3% that says a candidate for an election has the support of 45% of the voters could actually have 42%-48% of the support of voters)
mass survey
a survey designed to measure the opinions of the population, usually consisting of 1500 responses
entrance survey
a poll conducted of people coming into an event
exit poll
a survey conducted outside a polling place in which individuals are asked who or what they just voted for and why
benchmark poll
a survey taken at the beginning of a political campaign in order to gauge support for a candidate and determine which issues are important to voters
tracking poll
a survey determining level of support for a candidate or an issue throughout a campaign
random digit dialing
the use of telephone number randomly generated by computers to select potential survey respondents
question order
the sequencing of questions in public opinion polls may influence the poll taker's response (e.g a question about the importance of solving poverty followed by a question about support for welfare policies)
question wording
the wording of a question may influence the polltaker's response (e.g Do you support welfare policies that would benefit the 37.9 million impoverished people in America?)
interviewer's influence on responses
if there is an interviewer present when the respondent is taking the poll, the respondent may try to please the interviewer (e.g a teacher asks a student if they're satisfied with the level of education they are given)
voluntary response bias
when a poll is optional to take, people with a strong belief in the topic will be more likely to respond than those with moderate opinions (e.g a radio station that does a call in survey for who they support in election will primarily get responses from those who are hard line supporters of a specific candidate)
gender gap
the trend that women are more likely to vote for Democrats than men
trends in public opinion
there are many groups of people or "blocs" with similar traits that generally vote for one party these traits could include, race, gender, income level, age and even geographical location
usage of polling results and public opinion
officials should use the data from polls to loosely measure Americans' viewpoints and support about government and policy but should also engage in focus groups and other means to gather an idea of the public opinion whether or not officials vote accordingly with public opinion depends on whether the official views themselves as a delegate
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