Political Behavior

Unit 9

The process of developing one’s political beliefs

Developed from: The Family…over 50% of children under 18

align with parents School Peers/Role Models Historical Events Media…Daily Show v. Nightly news Religion Race/ethnicity Gender Age

Types: Straw polls

◦ Unscientific measure of opinions Political polls

◦ Push polls…designed to push people away from a person or issue

◦ Tracking polls…repeated over a series of days to measure short term opinion

◦ Exit polls…conducted by the media on election day to help predict election outcomes

Public opinion polls “Scientifically” conducted in order to

measure opinion◦ Examples: Gallup; Zogby

Process:1.Prepare questions2. Identify the group; select a sample

the group◦ A national sample is 1,500

3. Interview4.Evaluate

Best polls will have a:±3% Margin of error

Use the laptop activity results to evaluate voter behavior in the following areas

Region Gender Race Age Income Religion Education

Unit 9

2004: 216,000,000 eligible voters 2004: 126,000,000 voted (58%) Reasons for the low turnout?

◦ Apathy is the biggest reason…others?

What is a Party? Groups of people who seek to control

government by electing its members to public office

What do the parties do? Organize & Campaign Nominate Candidates Create platform and inform people of issues Bind people together & break people apart Controls government

History: Anti-Federalists vs. Federalists (Pre-Constitution age) Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans (1800 – 1828) Whigs vs. Democrats (1828 – 1854) Republicans vs. Democrats (1854 – present)

Why have 2 party system? Multi-party systems work best in smaller

countries Multi-party systems are often chaotic Two-party system creates a balance in

government

Minority parties Often sway elections Often influence the platforms of majority

parties Types:

◦Ideological parties◦Single issue parties◦Splinter parties

Less disposed to spend on defense

Less disposed to use vouchers, or other public funds, to let students attend private schools

More disposed to spend money to advance social-welfare programs

More disposed to use government money for public education

More disposed to spend money on government-run health programs

More disposed to grant tax relief to targeted groups such as the lower and middle classes

Against private ownership of assault weapons and for broader regulations on the ownership of firearms

More disposed to spend on defense

More disposed to use school vouchers for private schools and to give government aid to parochial schools

More disposed to grant tax relief to everyone, including the wealthy and corporations

Less disposed to spend money on social-welfare programs

Less disposed to spend money on government-run health programs

Less disposed to regulate firearms