Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs

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