Public Opinion

What is public opinion?

Public opinion is the aggregation of peoples views about issues, situations and public figures. V. O. Key
those opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed

Sources of Public Opinion

Political Socialization
The end result of all the processes by which individuals form their beliefs and values in their homes, schools, churches, communities, and workplaces. Children vote the same way their parents vote. What you are exposed to affects how you view the world.

{BB}

Examples of Group Differences in Public Opinion

Life Experiences and Public Opinion

Political socialization is an ongoing process and does not necessarily end when a person becomes an adult.
Childhood socialization can be modified or even reversed by adult experiences.

{BB}

Education and Political Socialization

Education fosters two important aspects of public opinion.
Political Efficacy
The belief that one can make a difference in politics by expressing an opinion or action politically.

Citizen Duty
The belief that it is a citizens duty to be informed and to participate in politics.

Religion as a socializing agent

David C. Leege (1993)
Churches inculcate beliefs and shape worldviews. They provide plausibility structures, i.e. ways of dealing with lifes puzzles and they offer social norms.

{BB}

Unlike other developed nations, religion remains important in the United States.
Religion is Very Important
100 90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

U.S

Canada Great Britian France

Mexico

Indonesia

India

Walds causes of religious intervention in politics

Creed
Religious traditions may provide guidance for believers about appropriate behavior in secular realms, such as politics.

Geertzs discussion of religious creed

Both what a people prizes and what it fears and hates are depicted in this worldview, symbolized in its religion, and in turn expresses in the whole quality of life.

{BB}

Social Culture
If a church attracts people who experience similar conditions of life, whether poverty or affluence, that shared status may lead congregants to develop a common outlook on politics and social issues.
{BB}

Religion as a culture
David C. Leege
Identity
Religion tells us who we are and who I am.

Norms
Religion tells us how we ought to behave.

Boundary-maintenance
Religion tells us who or what behaviors are not of us.

Churches as Political Communities

Political Cohesion in Churches (Wald, Owen and Hill)
Through theology and practices, churches can breed cohesion in terms of political attitudes between members.

2004 Presidential Election

National White Conservative Protestants

2004 Presidential Election

Texas White Conservative Protestants

Bush

Kerry

2008 Presidential Election

White Evangelical Protestants

Political Knowledge and the Democratic Process

Delli, Carpini and Keeter
Civic knowledge provides the raw material that allows citizens to use their virtues, skills and passions in a way that is connected meaningfully to the empirical world. Informed opinions, participation, and consent of citizens is by definition the best measure of what is in the publics interest. And the opportunities provided by citizens to make such informed choices is the best measure of how democratic a system is.
{BB}

Americans Are Not Very Knowledgeable About the Specifics of American Government

Higher Education Is Strongly Associated with Greater Knowledge of Politics and Government

Knowledge of the Titanic

Why are people not politically informed

Information cost
The time and mental effort required to absorb and store information, whether from conversations, personal experiences, or the media.

Many political facts require that citizens be reasonably vigilant surveyors of the changing political landscape: party control of Congress changes, elected and appointed officials are replaced, political alliances form and disintegrate, and so forth.
{BB}

Overcoming the information hurdle

Lupi and McCubbins
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts that allow individuals to make decisions without a great deal of information.

Individuals use cues to help them make decisions without a great deal of information.
Concepts such as reputation, party, or ideology are useful heuristics only if they convey information about knowledge and trust.

Hard and Easy Issues

Carmines and Stimson
Hard issues presume that voting is the final result of a sophisticated decision calculus; that is represents a reasoned and thoughtful attempt by voters to use policy preferences to guide their electoral decision. Easy issues are issues that so ingrained over a long period of time it structures voters gut responses to candidates and political parties
The easy issue would be symbolic rather than technical It would more likely deal with policy ends than means It would be an issue long on the political agenda {BB}

Ideology
System of beliefs in which one or more organizing principles connect the individuals views on a wide range of issues.

Ordinary People Are Much Less Ideological Than Political Elites

Economic Issues

Socialist

Mainstream Democrat

Conservative

Anarchist

Totalitarian

Welfare Liberal

Mainstream Republican

Libertarian

Government control increases

Government control decreases

Social Issues

Libertarian

Mainstream Democrat

Social Conservative

Totalitarian

Anarchist

Liberal

Mainstream Conservative

Christian Conservative

Government control decreases

Government control increases