Chapter 6
Public Opinion
the Media
What is Public Opinion?
• Framers intended that the government should
follow public opinion only in regard to broad
goals
Definition
…the expression of attitudes about
government and politics
These were intended to serve as a
check on public opinion:
•
•
•
•
•
representative government
federalism
separation of powers
Bill of Rights
independent judiciary
Measuring Public Opinion
• direction
– preferences for or against a particular issue
– place on the line 

• salience
– how central is it to your daily concerns
• intensity
– how strong is your preference on a particular issue
• stability
– how consistent are your preferences over time
• informational support
– how much knowledge do you have about the issue
Why do we distrust the federal
government?
• trust steadily
declined since the
1960s
• rose briefly during
the Reagan years
The Origins of Political Attitudes
• political socialization
– the process by which individuals come to adopt
the attitudes, values, beliefs, and opinions of their
political culture
Agents of Political Socialization
• family
– greatest impact
– number of people describing themselves as
independents has risen
– reason for decline in party identification
• proportionally a larger # of younger voters
• younger voters less likely to be partisan
• religion
– liberal  Catholic, Jewish
– conservative  Protestants
– since the 1960s, Evangelical Christians have
become more attached to Republicans
• Education
– attending college tends to make one more liberal
(more of an impact now because more people are
going to college)
– social science professors tend to be the most
liberal
• political elites
– liberal are more liberal
– conservatives are more conservative
– the two groups differ even though they often have
roughly the same income
• gender gap
– differences in political views between women and
men
– existed for a long time
– not always been large enough to make a difference
– benefitted Republicans in the 1950s, but women’s
vote tends to benefit Democrats today
• occupation
– becoming less important as an explanation of political
opinion because more people with college education
• race
– has become more important in explaining political
attitudes
– Blacks have become the most consistently liberal
group within the Democratic Party
• region (geography)
– many white southerners shifted from Democratic to
Republican party in recent years
– Democratic party now based in the North
Political Ideology
• liberal
– wants the government to do more to help
improve lives
• conservative
– personal action rather than government programs
improve lives
• pure liberals
– both economic and social issues
• pure conservatives
– both economic and social issues
• libertarians
– conservative on economic issues, liberal on social
ones
• populists
– liberal on economic issues, conservative on social
issues
Polling
• poll
–mechanism that is used to
measure and analyze public
opinion
5 elements that make up the various
dimensions of public opinion polling
1. person interviewed must be a random
sample of the entire population
– any given voter must have an equal chance of
being interviewed
2. questions must be comprehensible
– subjects must have some knowledge and some
basis on which to form an opinion
3. questions must be asked fairly
– without the use of loaded or emotional words
4. answer categories offered to a person must
be carefully considered
5. not every difference in answers is a significant
difference
Sampling error
– difference between the results of two surveys or
samples
Margin of Error (MoE)
– degree of accuracy of a poll
– +3%
3 Roles the National Press Play
1. gatekeeper
– influence what subjects become national issues,
and for how long
2. scorekeeper
– help make political reputations
– note who is “mentioned”
3. watchdog
– close scrutiny of political figures
Rules Governing the Media
• Freedom of the Press
– radio and TV need a government license to
operate, newspapers and magazines do not
– FCC issues licenses
– radio must renew every seven years
– TV must renew every five years
5 techniques politicians use to shape
the media
1. press officers – release information that
shapes the news
2. targeting the 6pm news
3. spin control
4. leaks, flattery, ideology
5. rewards and penalties
Chapter 7
Political Parties
Interest Groups
Political Party
• organizations created for the purpose of
winning elections and governing once in office
• group that seeks to elect candidates to public
office
• Constitution does not mention political parties
• Decentralization - candidates in most states
selected by the voters in primary elections,
not by party leaders.
1st Political Parties
• Democratic Republicans
– Thomas Jefferson
• Federalists
– Alexander Hamilton
Jefferson
Hamilton
National Party Structure
• national convention
– every 4 years to nominate a presidential candidate and to
ratify a party platform
• national committee
– runs party affairs between national conventions
• congressional campaign committee
– party committee in Congress that provides funds to
members who are running for reelection or to would be
members running for an open seat
• national chairman
– paid, full-time manager of a party’s day-to-day work
– elected by the national committee
Money
• federal money
– money raised to support campaigns of candidates
running for federal office
– amounts regulated by federal law
• soft money
– money raised by political parties for activities other
than directly supporting a federal candidate
• get-out-the-vote drives
• party advertising not linked to a particular name
• advertising on behalf of party issues
– not regulated
Political Machine
• a party organization that recruits its members
by the use of tangible incentives
Two-Party System
• single-member districts
– legislative districts from which one representative
is chose
• plurality of votes
– to get elected, you just need to get the most
votes, not a majority
Interest Groups
• definition
– organizations that seek to influence the making of
public policy
– a private group which attempts to influence
government policies to protect the interests of the
group
Public Interest Lobby
• group whose goals will principally benefit nonmembers
• work for the common good
Activities of Interest Groups
• provide information to Congress and
bureaucrats
– legislators must take positions on issues they are
not full informed on
– most valuable when it concerns a fairly narrow,
technical issue
Strategies used by Lobbyists
• insider strategy
– work closely with a few key members of Congress
• outsider strategy
– grassroots strategy
– used most recently
– mobilizing citizens to contact the government
Lobbying
• practice of influencing public decisions for
private purposes
• communication with legislators and other
government officials to try to influence their
decisions
• lobby all three branches
– legislative
– executive
– judicial
Money
• Political Action Committees (PACs)
– political fund-raising arm of corporations, unions,
or interest groups
– over half sponsored by corporations
– can give no more than $5,000 to any candidate
– purpose is to gain access
• revolving door
– government officials getting lucrative jobs in
private industry after they leave government
Regulating Interest Groups
• 1946 – Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act
– little practical effect
• 1995 – Lobbying Disclosure Act
– tightened registration and disclosure
requirements
• interest group activity is protected by the 1st
Amendment as a form of political speech
Chapter 8
• Campaigns and Elections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmCDaXeDRI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs5ORK8RLWk – Kennedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IBF8nwSY – Reagan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=
YfkNEq1XioE - Recent
Compared with European
Democracies, the US has:
• large number of offices filled by election
• political parties are weak and not accountable
for the actins of elected officials
• lower public participation in elections
• large # of interest groups that affect the
process
Political Participation
•
•
•
•
•
voting
join political organizations or interest groups
contribute money
write members of congress
talk politics with friends and neighbors
40% of Americans either do not participate in
politics at all or limit that participation strictly
to voting
Why do people participate?
– main reason is civic duty
Who Participates?
• Well educated
• Higher income
• Increase in all forms of participation except
voting
• African Americans participate less than whites
**Important Note: Elected officials tend to be
better informed and more in agreement with
the opinions of those who are the most active.
Historical Voting Patterns
• major changes
– 15th Amendment – African-Americans the right to vote
– Voting Rights Act of 1965
• literacy tests abolished
• federal examiners
• dramatic change in participation
– 19th Amendment
• women the right to vote in 1920
• no dramatic change
– 26th Amendment
• lowered voting age to 18
• youth vote less than expected
Voter Turnout
• decline in voter turnout in 20th century may
be more apparent than real because of voting
fraud in the past (ballot stuffing).
VAP
• voting age population
• low turnout when compared to other
countries
VEP
• voting eligible population
• removes ineligible voters from calculations
Registered Voters
• people who are registered to vote (US Citizen,
18 yrs old by election day, no felonies and not
mentally incapacitated).
• when compared to other nations, US turnout
of registered voters to vote is high
• Why is registration low?
– entire burden of registering has fallen on the
citizens
Election 2012
November 6, 2012 - Uniform Election Date
Authority conducting elections
First Day to File for Place on General Election Ballot (for cities
and schools ONLY) (filing deadline for other political
subdivisions may vary) 2
County Clerk/Elections Administrator/
Local political subdivisions
July 21, 2012
(Even though the first day to file falls on a Saturday, this does
not require the filing authority to hold weekend office hours to
receive candidate applications.)
Last Day to Order General Election (or Special Election on a
Measure) 2
Last Day to File for Place on General Election Ballot (for local
political subdivisions ONLY) 2
August 20, 2012 (NEW LAW: 78th day before election day)
First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail
(does not apply to FPCA)
Last Day to Register to Vote
September 7, 2012
First Day of Early Voting
Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail
(Received, not Postmarked)
Last Day of Early Voting
August 20, 2012 (NEW LAW: 78th day before election day)
October 9, 2012 (Tuesday, which is next business day after
Columbus Day)
October 22, 2012 (Monday, which is next business day after
statutory deadline)
October 30, 2012
(Received, not Postmarked)
November 2, 2012
http://votetexas.gov/voting/who#students
Two reasons why turnout is lower than
in other democratic countries
1. politics not as important to Americans as it is
to citizens of other countries
2. political parties do not mobilize voters and
get them to the polls with the same
efficiency as do many European parties
Political Campaigns
• features of our political system that have contributed
to the rise of personal rather than party-run campaigns
– primary elections
– political funds and jobs under control of candidates and
office-holders, not party leaders
– public financing of presidential campaigns
– ability to reward followers with jobs in the hands of
elected officials rather than a party boss
– increased reliance on mass media for campaigning
– decline in party identification
Strategy
• tendency of states in recent years to frontload primaries and caucuses – earlier in the
year – this increases their importance
Kinds of Elections
• general
– election used to fill an office
• primary
– election prior to the general election in which
voters select the candidates who will run on each
party’s ticket
Types of Primaries
• open
– decide when you vote as to which party’s primary you want to vote in
• closed
– you must declare in advance as to which party’s primary you wish to
vote in
• blanket
– you can vote for candidates of different parties – Democrat for one
office; Republican for another (Washington and Alaska)
• runoff
– held when not candidate gets a majority of the votes in the first
primary
– candidates with top two vote counts run against each other
• presidential primary
– held to pick delegates to the presidential nominating conventions
Using Television
• spots
– short television advertisements used to promote a candidate
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JLoU
nRchJPE
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_6z5
zC8W2Mk
• visuals
– campaign activity that shows up on the news (usually news worthy
activity).
• debates
– no evidence to show they
have made a difference since 1984
– viable candidates
Retrospective Voting
– based on what the party had done in the recent
past
– backward-looking
Prospective Voting
– voting for a candidate because of what they want
to do after the election
– forward-looking
Party Realignments
– shift in the popular support of one or both parties
– 5 in US history
Blue States
– Democrats usually win
Red States
– Republicans usually win
split-ticket voting
– voting for candidates of different parties
straight-ticket voting
– voting for candidate of one political party only
party-column ballot
– ballot listing all candidates of a single party under
the name of that party
– encourages straight-ticket voting
office-block ballot
– ballot listing all candidates for a given office under
the name of that office
– encourages split-ticket voting
– also known as Massachusetts Ballot
Who supports the Democrats?
– minorities
– unions
– working class
Who supports the Republicans?
– business and professionals
– Socio-economically disadvantaged whites
– African Americans are the most loyal Democratic
voters.
– Hispanic vote is split between Cuban-Americans
(Republican) and Mexican Americans (Democrat).
Elections and Money
• “Money is the mother’s milk of politics”
• 1972-2004 presidential candidate have
officially spent the same amount because they
have accepted money from the federal
government
• no limit on what congressional candidates can
spend
• PACs
– organizations that raise money for candidates
– Political fundraising arm of corporations, unions, and
interest groups.
– limited to $5,000
• individuals
– $2,000 to individual candidate
– $10,000 to PAC
• independent expenditures
– political money raised and spent by an organization on
behalf of a candidate
– done without the direction of or coordination with
the candidate
• soft money
– money raised by political parties for activities other than
directly supporting a federal candidate
• matching funds
– money given by the federal government to match, under
certain conditions, money raised by each presidential
candidate
– $3 check off on income tax
• 527s
– tax exempt organizations set up to raise money for
political campaigns that are not regulated by campaignfinance laws
• internet
– one way to bypass federal rules on campaign finance is to
solicit money over the internet