AP gov Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action

How did Sept. 11 have an unusual impact on public opinion?

Public opinion was remarkably near unanimous that the attack was an act of war that demanded an immediate response by force

Public Opinion

The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues.

Demography

The science of population changes.

Census

A valuable tool for understanding demographic changes. The Constitution requires that the government conduct an "actual enumeration" of the population every ten years.

Melting Pot

The mixing of cultures, ideas and peoples that has changed the American Nation. The United States, with its history of immigration, has often been considered one of these.

Homogeneous

Describe the three great waves of immigration into the U.S.

1. Prior to the late nineteenth century, northwestern Europeans (English, Irish, Germans, and Scandinavians)

2. During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, southern and eastern Europeans (Italians, Jews, Poles, Russians, and others)

3. Hispanic and Asians

How many immigrants are allowed to come into the U.S. annually?

800,000

Minority Majority

The emergence of a non-Caucasian majority, as compared to a White, generally Anglo-Saxon majority. It is predicted that by 2060, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans together will outnumber White Americans.

African American Experience

-legacy of racism and discrimination has left higher portion of the population economically and politically disadvantaged than whites

-live in higher rates of poverty and exercised less political power

Hispanic (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican) Experience

-largest minority group in America

-come to escape poverty and govt

-Simpson-Mazzoli Act: requires that employers document the citizenship of their employees... raises the concern that employers will discriminate against Hispanics overall

-faced with the problem of illegal immigration

What as the purpose of the Simpson Mazzoli Act and was it successful?

To stop the influx of illegal immigrants by forcing employers to check to see if they are a citizen. No.

Asian Experience

-come to America for greater opportunity

-best off of all minority groups

-higher education rate and income than most whites

Native American Experience

-worst off of all the groups: least healthy, poorest, and least educated

-few have found wealth and even less, power

-economically and politically disadvantaged due to the famine and disease when Europeans arrived in Americas

How has population shifted?

From north of the mason-dixon line to and east of the Mississippi River to the West and South, sunbelt

-demographic changes are associated with political changes... population affects representation in House

What is the fastest growing group in America?

-senior citizens... "the graying of america"

-people are living longer due to medical advances and birth rate has dropped therefore social security a pay as you go program will implode

How do demographic changes affect political changes?

The regional shift and the graying of America.

What is our most costly public policy?

SS is only exceeded by national defense

Political Culture

An overall set of values widely shared within a community.

Reapportionment

The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every ten years on the basis of the results of the census.

Political Socialization

According to Richard Dawson, "the process through which an individual acquires his particular political orientations-his knowledge, feelings, and evaluations regarding his political world."

What is the role of the family?

-huge impact on socialization of the young due to time and emotional commitment

-most likely to identify with the same party as your parents

What is the role of the media?

-young is largely influences by the media... "the new parent"

-displaces parents as the chief role of source of information as children get older

-however, young is increasingly apathetic

What is the role of school?

-used to promote national loyalty and support for its basics values: edu on the virtue of capitalism and democracy

How does aging affect political behavior?

Politics is a learned behavior; Old people have more experience with it and are more likely to participate in politics.

What does aging do to the levels of political participation?

it increases political participation an strength of party attachment

George Gallup

developed public opinion polling

Sample

a relatively small proportion of the people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

Random Sampling

The key technique employed by sophisticated survey researches, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample.

How has random digit dialing affected polling?

It has made surveying less expensive and more commonplace.

Sampling Error

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

1,000-1,500 has sampling error of +-3

-accurate representation, not number of respondents, is most important

What is sampling error and why is it important to take note of?

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

You have to take into account how accurate your representation is.

Polls help political candidates predict...?

public preferences

Selective Perception

the phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions

What are critiques and supports of public opinion polls?

They weaken democracy, produce questionable statistics, and they influence public opinion (bandwagon effect).

Polls are a tool for democracy that keeps policymakers in touch with changing opinions of the public

Exit Polls

The public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.

Liberal

Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

Conservative

A political or theological orientation advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes.

Party Identification

Party identification refers to the political party with which an individual identifies. Party identification is typically determined by the political party that an individual most commonly supports (by voting or other means)

Political Trust

"basic evaluative orientation toward the ... government."

-Stokes

Explain Russel Neuman's

"paradox of mass politics".

America's politics work (somewhat) despite low public knowledge about politics. People understand the basic values they want and vote accordingly.

Bandwagon Effect

refers to voters who support a candidate because they see that others are doing so

Critiques of the Exit Poll

exit polls discourage many people from voting and thereby affect the outcome of some state and local races

By altering the words of a question, pollsters get...?

The results they want

Russel Newman

The "paradox of politics" is that the American political system works as well as it does given the discomforting lack pr public knowledge about politics

Lack of Information

Polls reveal that American Political Information is not well know amongst society. More people know fun facts than they do about political leaders from their own party.

Trust in Govt

American public has become increasingly dissatisfied with government ... Vietnam, watergate, economic troubles, Iran Hostage crisis, trusted during Reagan's years...

Controversy:

-dose of public cynicism helps keep politician on their toes

-democracy is based on the consent of the governed and a lack of political trust in the govt is a reflection of their belief that the system isn't working

9/11

Shows that the public cynicism will not stop American from rallying behind their govt in a time of national crisis

Political Ideology

A coherent ste of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning the political events, personalities, and policies

Liberals

-Supporters of a wide scope of central govt, often involving policies that aim to promote equality

-Military Spending: spend less

-Use of Force: less willing to commit troops

-Abortion: pro-choice

-Prayer in Schools: opposed

-Affirmative Action: favor

-Scope of Govt:view govt as a regulator in the public interest

-Taxes: want to tax the rich more

-Spending: want to spend more on poor

-How to Cut Crime: we should solve the problems that cause crime

-Defendant's Rights: we should guard them carefully

*young people are typically more liberal, but are less likely to vote so conservatives are overrepresented in the poll

Conservatives

-supports a less active scope of govt that giver freer reign to the private sector

-Military Spending: maintain peace through strength

-Use of Force: more likely to support military intervention around the world

-Abortion: pro-life

-Prayer in Schools: favor

-Affirmative Action: Oppose

-Scope of Govt:favor free-market solutions

-Taxes:want to keep taxes low

-Spending:want to keep spending low

-How to Cut Crime: we should stop "coddling criminals"

-Defendant's Rights: we should stop letting criminals hide behind laws

*predominance of conservatism thinking in America is on of the most important reason for the relatively restrained scope of govt compared to most European countries

-groups with more political clout (power) tend to be more conservative that groups whose members have been shut our from the halls of political power

AA Ideology

liberal: place a hogh priority on retaining social welfare and AA programs in order to assist their progress since major CIvil Rights bills

Hispanic Ideology

liberal: bc look to govt to rectify inequalities

Women Ideology

Liberal: more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

Gender Gap

A term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Women tend to be significantly less conservative than men and are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending.

Role of Social Class on Ideology

much mor traditional source of division bw L and C has been social class (financial status), but trend is now weak

Role of Religion in Ideology

-Catholics and Jews who have struggled for equality are more liberal than Protestants

-Jews are far most liberal group

The American Voter

Ideologues: People that think in ideological terms. (12%)

Group Benefit Voters: Think of politics in terms of groups they like and dislike. (42%)

Nature of the Times: Their handle on politics depends on whether the times seemed good or bad to them. (24%)

Single Issue Voter: Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea.

No Issue Content: They vote based on candidates' personalities. (22%)

-most ppl dont think of terms left and right when voting, ideology and party

Political Participation

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common but not the only means of political participation is a democracy in voting. Other means include protest and civil disobedience.

-recently substantial increases in participation were found in giving money to candidates and contacting public officials

Conventional Participation

includes many widely accepted modes of influencing govt (voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for petition, running for office)

Unconventional Participation

includes activities that are often dramatic (protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence)

How does minority status factor into political participation? Evaluate this factor.

People with higher incomes are more likely to participate in politics. Gaps between minority voting averages and the national average are small because of a group consciousness that gives extra incentive to vote.

Protest

a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics: draws attention to media

Civil Disobedience

a form of political participation designed that reflects a conscious decision to break the law believed to be immoral and suffer the consequences

Violence

extreme means of pressuring the govt to change is policies

Class, Inequality, and Participation

"Citizens of higher social economic status participate more in politics." This generalization, "holds true whether one uses level of education, income, or occupation as the measure of social status."

-some believe America is ruled by small, economic elite

-when minorities of equal class and education are compared to whites more participate in politics

Public Attitudes towards Scope of Govt

-republicans believe that scope has become to wide ranging

Ronald Reagan: govt isnt the solution but the problem

-Public when asked about cope of govt consistently have no opinion at all

-public opinion on different aspects of the same issue are inconsistent...ideological conservatives but operational liberals which leads to policy gridlock