The document discusses public opinion, defined as the aggregate attitudes and beliefs held by ordinary citizens. It covers aspects of polling methodologies, including the difference between scientific polls and unscientific straw polls, and introduces the concept of political socialization, highlighting factors that influence political beliefs over a lifetime. Additionally, it addresses how public opinion can be affected by various social and demographic factors.

1. Public Opinion Dr. Christopher S. Rice

2. The sum of individual attitudes or beliefs on an issue is known as: the public will. aggregate attitudes. public opinion. none of these choices.

3. Public Opinion The politically relevant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly through words or actions.

5. Polling

6. Survey Systematic interviews by trained, professional interviewers, who ask a standardized set of questions of a rather small number of randomly chosen citizens.

7. Public Opinion Poll a relatively few individuals (the sample) are interviewed in order to estimate the opinions of a whole population.

8. The Theory of Probability

9. Sampling Error?

10. 68% 95% The Bell Curve

11. Representative (Probability) Sample sample in which each individual in the population has a known probability of being selected at random for inclusion in the survey

12. Phone Books and Computer Dialing (cc) 2006 mj ecker Some Rights Reserved

13. What about Cell Phones? (cc) 2006 Andreww Hubbell Some Rights Reserved

14. Polls which rely on non-random samples and often include "man on the street" interviews are known as: causal polls. non-scientific polls. push polls. straw polls.

15. Straw Polls Unscientific surveys which make no attempt at using a representative (random) sample in their polling.

16. 1936 Presidential Election

18. 1948 Presidential Election

19. 2004 Zogby Exit Polls

20. How do you feel about Dr. Rice as a Political Science instructor? He’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! He’s pretty good, but his fashion choices leave a lot to be desired… He’s not nearly as great as he thinks he is. Where did they dig this guy up?

21. How would you feel about Dr. Rice as a Political Science instructor if you knew that he liked to kick dogs, eat small children and club baby seals? He’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! He’s pretty good, but his fashion choices leave a lot to be desired… He’s not nearly as great as he thinks he is. Where did they dig this guy up?

22. A survey which deliberately provides misleading information or uses leading questions in order to obtain a particular response is known as: a fixed response poll. a push poll. a closed-ended response poll. a straw poll.

23. Push polls Polls which deliberately feed respondents misleading information or leading questions in an effort to “push” them into favoring a particular candidate or issue.

24. The process by which one generation learns political values from another is known as: political socialization. political acculturation. value sharing. ideological development.

25. Political Socialization the learning process through which people acquire their political opinions, beliefs and values.

26. Political beliefs are NOT ingrained… they are acquired through a lifelong learning process.

27. Political outlook is substantially influenced by childhood learning.

28. Age-Cohort Tendency

29. Agents of Political Socialization Family Schools Mass Media Peers Political Institutions & Leaders Churches

30. Effects on Public Opinion of… Race and ethnicity Religion Region City vs. country Party Affiliation