The document discusses how public opinions are formed through various influences like family, schools, mass media, peer groups, and historic events. It also examines how public opinion is measured through polls, the history and science of polling, and some limitations of polls. Finally, it analyzes the role of mass media in shaping public opinion through agenda-setting and influencing elections.

1. How are
MASS MEDIA & opinions
formed?
PUBLIC OPINION How are
opinions
measured?
The Media

2. WHAT IS PUBLIC OPINION?
 Attitudes held by significant number of people on public
policy matters
 Why is public opinion important in a democracy?
 Should politicians do what “the people” want?
(West Wing – Lame Duck Congress)

3. WHY DO WE BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE?
Family
School
Mass Media
Peer Groups
Opinion Leaders
Historic Events

4. FAMILY
- The foundations upon which political opinions are built start
with your parents
- Adopt the political views of the primary caregiver
- Political opinions also influenced by older siblings and other
relatives.

5. SCHOOLS
 First break from familiar
influence
 Schools teach the values of the
American political system
 How?
 Do schools and teachers ever
abuse this influence?

6. MASS MEDIA
 Communication that reaches a large number of people
 Internet, T V, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers
 Has media become an “Echo Chamber?”

7. PEER GROUPS
 Influence of peer groups increases during adolescence
 Peer groups usually enforce what one already believes. Why?

8. OPINION LEADERS
 Person with an unusually strong
influence on the views of others
 Public of ficials, members of media,
religious leaders
 Has the line between news and
commentary blurred?
 Does the media reflect opinion, or
shape it?

9. HISTORIC EVENTS
Great Depression: A Case Study
- 1929: economy collapses
- 1938: near 20% unemployment
- Events persuaded majority of Americans to support a larger
role for the government
Other Examples
- 1960s & 70s

11. MEASURING PUBLIC OPINION – WHY?

12. Ways to
Measure Public
Opinion Strengths Weaknesses
Elections
Interest
Groups
The Media
Personal
Contacts

13. PUBLIC OPINION POLLS – WHO CARES?

14. PRE-GALLUP ERA
Straw Polls
 Asking the same question to a large number
of people
 Online polls an example ( SportsNation --
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation /)
 Why is this unreliable?
 Literar y Digest Poll
 Predicted Alf Landon would defeat FDR
 Polled 2.3 million people – Why were the
results faulty?

15. SCIENTIFIC POLLING
 Pioneered by George Gallup and Elmo Roper
 Top firms today: Gallup, Harris, Marist, various media outlets
 5 Steps to ensure a scientific poll
 Defining the Universe
 Constructing a Sample
 Preparing Valid Questions
 Interviewing
 Interpreting & Analyzing
 Focus Groups
 West Wing: 100,000 Airplanes

16. DEFINING THE UNIVERSE
 Whose opinion do you want to measure?
 i.e.: Catholic voters, women over 35, likely voters etc.

17. CONSTRUCTING A SAMPLE
 Cannot speak to all members of a universe
 Sample: representative slice of the total universe
Random Sample
 All members of a universe have an equal chance of being
included (law of probability)
 Most polls seek 1 ,500 respondents for a margin of error of
+/- 3%
 Would need 9,000 respondents to get to +/ - 1%

19. A FINAL WORD ON SAMPLES
 Respondents CANNOT be self -selected
 What kind of polling does this eliminate?
 Respondents CANNOT be fundamentally dif ferent from the
universe as a whole
 Think Literary Digest poll

20. VALID QUESTIONS
 How a question is asked will
influence the results.
Do you support lower taxes?
Do you support more funding
for local police departments?
 Questions should not
suggest answers or use
“loaded words”
 Push polls
 West Wing: Lies, Damn Lies…

21. INTERVIEWING
 Most pollsters do their work over the phone (random digit
dialing)
 Why?
 The way questions are asked can alter results.

22. WHAT POLLS CAN’T DO
 Intensity of opinions
 Stability of opinions
 Relevance of opinions
Do polls shape opinion, or reflect it?
 Bandwagon ef fect
 Cannot replace elections
 Cannot tell elected of ficials what to do
 Polls are snapshots, with a short shelf -life

23. THE MASS MEDIA
Television
Internet
 Radio, Newspapers,
 Magazines, Books

25. THE MEDIA: THE FOURTH ESTATE
 Why is the media protected by the Constitution?

26. INFORMATION OVERLOAD
 Are we more informed than ever before?

27. BIAS & MEDIA
Does the Media have a bias?
 Liberal, Conservative, “Status Quo”, Structural
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtDJ6Ay4QMw

28. NEWS VS. OPINIONS
 Has the line between news and commentary blurred?

29. MEDIA & POLITICS
Setting the Public A genda
 NY T: “All the news that’s fit to print.” – says who?
 Media can influence what people think about
 Has the explosion of the internet and cable news helped to
correct this problem, or is it worse now than ever before?

30. MEDIA & POLITICS
Influencing Elections
 T V allows for a direct appeal
 Social Media allows for more interaction
 Visual media makes image more important than ever
 Media covers the “horserace”
 How to get your candidate on T V:
 Interesting visuals
 Short, pithy quotes (sound bites)