Brief Contents of Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action
Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities
The textbook points out that many immigrants today come, not to flee an oppressive government, but to escape poverty, and immigrants’ aspirations as well as their political beliefs can influence the policy agenda. For example, to meet the needs of immigrant children who are poor and speak little English, many Hispanic leaders have advocated that bilingual education be offered in American public schools. Ask students to think of themselves as the policymakers. Ask them would you encourage your local or state government to support special educational programs for non-English-speakers. Ask them if you support such programs, do you favor the maintenance version of bilingual education, the transition version, or English as a second language.
The concept of political socialization is difficult for students to grasp without examples and discussion. Ask students to think about the role of political symbols in society. In particular, ask students to list these symbols and where they are most often seen. For example, the flag, the constitution, Uncle Sam, etc. Discuss the Pledge of Allegiance as a socializing agent for young children as well as activities during Fourth of July celebrations, which are often used to reinforce public values of nationalism, patriotism, and reverence for the Constitution. Once they have listed a variety of these, then ask them to explain why the national anthem is sung at baseball games. Ask how many know all of the words, how many have stood but did not sing, and how many did not sing or stand while the national anthem was being sung at a baseball game. (cont.)
Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities
This exercise provides an un-intimidating yet thoughtful way of emphasizing just how pervasive political socialization has been used to instill principles, values, and beliefs in citizens. A follow-up exercise may include a short essay debating whether the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance or the singing of the national anthem is more appropriate for baseball games, given that most people can say the pledge without hesitation, but have trouble singing the national anthem.
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Have students visit the Internet site operated by Gallup, the National Election Study, or the General Social Survey to find public opinion data on a question of interest. Have each student write up, or present orally in class, what the question wording was, the response distribution, and how to interpret the data.
Ask students to watch criminal justice entertainment shows from the 1970s compared to those in the 2000s. Then have students write brief essays on the political value or information conveyed in these shows, and the implications of these for individuals’ political beliefs.
Lecture Tips and Suggestions for In-Class Activities
The textbook points out that the diversity of the American public and its opinions must be faithfully channeled through the political process in order for the American government to work efficiently and effectively. At the same time, the least informed among the public are also the least likely to participate in the political process. Ask your class to evaluate the effect that this inequality of participation has on the democratic process.
The authors of the textbook point out that more people today think the government is too big rather than too small, yet a plurality has consistently called for increased spending on domestic programs. Many political scientists have looked at these contradictory findings and concluded that Americans are ideological conservatives but operational liberals. Ask your class to examine this theory with reference to public debate over the latest presidential budget proposals.
Lecture Outline
The American People
Public opinion is the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues.
For American government to work efficiently and effectively, the diversity of the American public and its opinions must be faithfully channeled through the political process.
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It is so very important to identify demographic trends and their likely impact on American politics.
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The Immigrant Society
One way of looking at the American public is through demography (the science of population changes).
The most valuable tool for understanding demographic changes in America is the census, which was first conducted in 1790 to comply with the constitutional requirement that the government conduct an “actual enumeration” of the population every ten years.
Once a group can establish its numbers, it can then ask for federal aid in proportion to its size.
LO 6.1 Image: In an attempt to get more people to fill out their Census form, the Census Bureau advertised heavily in 2010 to increase public awareness of the Census, including even sponsoring a NASCAR driver.
Lecture Outline
The American Melting Pot
The United States has always been a nation of immigrants.
Americans live in a multicultural and multilingual society that is becoming more diverse all the time.
Despite this diversity, minority groups have assimilated many basic American values, such as the principle of equality.
Until recently, the largest minority group in the country has been the African-American population.
The 2000 Census reported that for the first time the Hispanic population outnumbered the African-American population.
Unlike Hispanics, who have come to America to escape poverty, the recent influx of Asians has been driven by a new class of professional workers looking for greater opportunity. By far the worst off minority group is the one indigenous minority, known today as Native Americans.
Regardless of ethnic background, most Americans share a common political culture – an overall set of values widely shared within a society.
Figure 6.1 The Coming Minority Majority
LO 6.1 Image: Immigration reform has been a hotly contested issue in American politics in recent years.
Lecture Outline
The Regional Shift
Over the last fifty years, much of America’s population growth has been centered in the West and South, particularly with movement to the “sunbelt” states of Florida, California, and Texas from “rust belt” states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.
The process of reapportionment occurs every ten years following the census, and brings with it gains or losses of congressional representation as the states’ population balance changes. (New York has lost about one-third of its delegation over the last fifty years.)
Lecture Outline
The Graying of America
The fastest growing age group in America is composed of citizens over age 65: people are living longer as a result of medical advances, and the birth rate has dropped.
The Social Security system is second only to national defense as America’s most costly public policy; the growing demands to care for the elderly will almost certainly become more acute in the decades ahead.
LO 6.2 Image: Senior citizens have recently been exercising increasing political power.
Lecture Outline
How Americans Learn About Politics: Political Socialization
Political socialization is the process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others.
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How Americans Learn About Politics: Political Socialization
The Process of Political Socialization
Agents of socialization are numerous; they include family, the media, and schools.
Governments throughout the world use the schools in their attempt to instill a commitment to the basic values of the system.
The family’s role is central because of its monopoly on two crucial resources in the early years—time and emotional commitment and there may even be genetic predispositions towards attitudes.
Lecture Outline
How Americans Learn About Politics: Political Socialization
The Process of Political Socialization
Agents of socialization are numerous; they include family, the media, and schools.
The mass media has been referred to as “the new parent.”
Aging increases one’s political participation and the strength of one’s party attachment.
Political behavior is to some degree a learned behavior.
Governments largely aim their socialization efforts at the young (not the old) because one’s political orientations grow firmer as one becomes more socialized with age.
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It is very essential to explain how polls are conducted and what can be learned from them about American public opinion.
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How Polls Are Conducted
What Americans believe (and believe they know) is public opinion—the distribution of people’s beliefs about politics and policy issues.
There is rarely a single public opinion: with so many people and such diversity of populations, there are also many opinions.
Public opinion is one of the products of political learning.
Public opinion polling was first developed by George Gallup in 1932.
Polls rely on a sample of the population (a relatively small proportion of people who are chosen as representative of the whole) to measure public opinion.
A sample of about 1,500 to 2,000 people can be representative of the “universe” (the larger group whose opinion is being measured) of potential voters.
The key to the accuracy of opinion polls is random sampling, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected.
There is always a certain amount of risk of inaccuracy involved, known as the sampling error.
Sophisticated technology is now available for measuring public opinion.
Computer and telephone technology have made surveying less expensive and more commonplace.
(cont.)
Most polling is now done on the telephone with samples selected through random digit dialing, in which calls are placed to telephone numbers within randomly chosen exchanges.
In this era of cell phones, many pollsters are starting to worry whether this methodology will continue to work much longer.
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LO 6.3 Image: Public opinion polls these days are done mostly over the telephone.
Lecture Outline
The Role of Polls in American Democracy
Supporters of polling believe it is a tool for democracy by which policymakers can keep in touch with changing opinions on issues.
Critics of polling think it makes politicians more concerned with following than leading and may thus discourage bold leadership.
Recent research by Jacobs and Shapiro argues that the common perception of politicians pandering to the results of public opinion polls may be mistaken.
Rather than using polls to identify centrist approaches that will have the broadest appeal, Jacobs and Shapiro argue that elites use them to formulate strategies that enable them to avoid compromising on what they want to do.
Polls can weaken democracy by distorting the election process; polls are often accused of creating a “bandwagon effect” in which voters may support a candidate only because they see that others are doing so.
Emphasis on poll results sometimes has drowned out the issues of recent presidential campaigns.
The election day exit poll is probably the most criticized type of poll.
Perhaps the most pervasive criticism of polling is that pollsters can get pretty much the results they want by altering the wording of questions.
Although the bias in such questions may be easy to detect, the ethical problem is that an organization may not report how the survey questions were worded.
Lecture Outline
What Polls Reveal About Americans’ Political Information
Polls reveal that the average American has a lower level of political knowledge than citizens of other countries at similar levels of development.
Part of the reason the American political system works as well as it does is that people do know what basic values they want upheld, even when they do not have information on policy questions or decision makers.
Increased levels of education and the increased availability of information over the last four decades have scarcely raised public knowledge about politics.
Public cynicism and mistrust of government undermines the ability of government to address pressing social problems.
Lecture Outline
The Decline of Trust in Government
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, nearly three quarters of Americans said that they trusted the government in Washington to do the right thing always or mostly.
By the late 1960s, however, researchers started to see a precipitous drop in public trust in government.
First Vietnam and then Watergate shook the people’s confidence in the federal government.
The economic troubles of the Carter years and the Iran hostage crisis helped continue the slide; by 1980, only one-quarter of the public thought the government could be trusted most of the time or always.
Since then, trust in government has occasionally risen for a while, but the only time a majority said they could trust the government most of the time was in 2002, after the events of September 11.
Lecture Outline
What Americans Value: Political Ideologies
Political ideology is a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events.
Liberal ideology, for example, supports a wide scope for the central government, often involving policies that aim to promote equality.
Conservative ideology, in contrast, supports a less active scope of government that gives freer rein to the private sector.
Lecture Outline
It is so very important to assess the influence of political ideology on Americans’ political thinking and behavior.
Table 6.1 How to Tell a Liberal from a Conservative
Lecture Outline
Who Are the Liberals and Conservatives?
Overall, more Americans consistently choose the ideological label of conservative over liberal.
Some groups are more liberal than others, and want to see government do more; this includes people under the age of 30, minorities, and women.
Groups with political clout tend to be more conservative than groups whose members have often been shut out from the halls of political power.
Women are not a minority group, making up about 54 percent of the population, but they have nevertheless been politically and economically disadvantaged.
Compared to men, women are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose the higher levels of military spending, which conservatives typically advocate.
This ideological difference between men and women has led to the gender gap, which refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates.
LO 6.4 Image: How Younger and Older Americans Compare on the Issues
Lecture Outline
Do People Think in Ideological Terms?
Ideological thinking is not widespread in the American public, nor are people necessarily consistent in their attitudes.
The authors of the classic study The American Voter (Angus Campbell, et al.) first looked carefully at the ideological sophistication of the American electorate in the 1950s.
They divided the public into four groups, according to ideological sophistication.
Ideologues - Only 12 percent could connect their opinions and beliefs with broad policy positions taken by parties or candidates.
Group benefits voters - Forty-two percent of Americans thought of politics mainly by the groups they liked or disliked.
Nature of the times voters - The “handle on politics” of 24 percent of the population was limited to whether the times seemed good or bad to them.
No issue content voters - Twenty-two percent of the voters were devoid of any ideological or issue content in their political evaluations; most simply voted routinely for a party or judged the candidates by their personalities.
(cont.)
If the same methods are used to update the analysis of The American Voter through the 1980’s, one finds some increase in the proportion of ideologues, but the overall picture looks much the same.
For most people, the terms liberal and conservative are just not as important as they are for the political elite such as politicians, activists, journalists, and the like.
Although some point to gay rights as an example of an issue that polarizes the country into a “culture war,” polling data indicates a gradually increasing acceptance of gays and lesbians among liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike.
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LO 6.4 Image: Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians
Lecture Outline
How Americans Participate in Politics
Political participation is all the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue.
The most common means of political participation in a democracy is voting; other means include protest and civil disobedience.
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It is so very important to classify forms of political participation into two broad types.
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Conventional Participation
Conventional participation includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government, such as voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, and running for office.
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Protest as Participation
Unconventional participation includes activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence.
Protest is a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics, and protests today are often orchestrated to provide television cameras with vivid images.
Throughout American history, individuals and groups have sometimes used civil disobedience (consciously breaking a law that they think is unjust), illustrated in different eras by people like Henry David Thoreau in the 1840s and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1950s and 1960s.
Nonviolent civil disobedience was one of the most effective techniques of the civil rights movement in the American South. Rev. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a classic defense of civil disobedience.
Political participation can also be violent (as in some of the Vietnam war protests of the 1960s).
LO 6.5 Image: The right of political protest is constitutionally protected as an integral part of freedom of speech in the United States.
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Class, Inequality, and Participation
In the United States, participation is a class-biased activity, with citizens of higher socioeconomic status participating more than others.
Minority groups like Hispanics and African Americans are below average in terms of political participation.
The participation differences between these groups and the national average has been declining.
When Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites of equal incomes and educations are compared, it is minorities who participate more in politics.
Figure 6.2 Political Participation by Family Income
Lecture Outline
It is so very essential to analyze how public opinion about the scope of government guides political behavior.
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Public Attitudes Toward the Scope of Government
The question of government power is a complex one, but it is one of the key controversies in American politics today.
Public opinions on different aspects of the same issue do not always hold together well: while more people today think the government is too big rather than too small, a plurality has consistently called for spending on programs like education, healthcare, aid to big cities, protecting the environment, and fighting crime.
Many political scientists have looked at these contradictory findings and concluded that Americans are ideological conservatives but operational liberals.
Lecture Outline
Democracy, Public Opinion, and Political Action
Americans often take for granted the opportunity to replace our leaders at the next election.
Perhaps the best indicator of how well socialized Americans are to democracy is that protest typically is aimed at getting the attention of government, not at overthrowing it.
Even if they are only voting according to the nature of the times, voters are clearly being heard, which holds elected officials accountable for their actions.
LO 6.1: Identify demographic trends and their likely impact on American politics.
Which of the following is the fastest-growing group in the United States?
C. Hispanics (LO 6.1)
Which of the following is the fastest-growing group in the United States?
C. Hispanics (LO 6.1)
LO 6.2: Outline how various forms of socialization shape political opinions.
The main source of political socialization WITHIN the context is government and civics classes.
A. school (LO 6.2)
The main source of political socialization WITHIN the context is government and civics classes.
A. school (LO 6.2)
LO 6.3: Explain how polls are conducted and what can be learned from them about American public opinion.
Which of the following ensures that the opinions of several hundred million Americans can be inferred through polling?
D. All of the above. (LO 6.3)
Which of the following ensures that the opinions of several hundred million Americans can be inferred through polling?
D. All of the above. (LO 6.3)
LO 6.4: Assess the influence of political ideology on Americans’ political thinking and behavior.
LO 6.4: Assess the influence of political ideology on Americans’ political thinking and behavior.
Americans are more likely to be .
A. conservative than liberal (LO 6.4)
Americans are more likely to be .
A. conservative than liberal (LO 6.4)
LO 6.5: Classify forms of political participation into two broad types.
LO 6.5: Classify forms of political participation into two broad types.
Which of the following type of political participation is most common in the United States?
D. Voting in elections. (LO 6.5)
Which of the following type of political participation is most common in the United States?
D. Voting in elections. (LO 6.5)
LO 6.6: Analyze how public opinion about the scope of government guides political behavior.
Public opinion polls reveal that Americans
B. oppose the idea of big government in principle but favor it in practice. (LO 6.6)
Public opinion polls reveal that Americans
B. oppose the idea of big government in principle but favor it in practice. (LO 6.6)
