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Public Opinion/Political
ActionChapter 6
American People
Demography – the science of human population
Census – Taken every 10 years (decennial Reapportionment - House of Representatives
Census Bureau
Immigrant society
All Americans are descended from immigrants (except Native Americans)
800,000 new immigrants allowed every year
Melting pot – mixture of cultures, ideas and people
Minority Majority population in U.S.
AFRICAN AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY DEMOCRAT ASIAN AMERICANS IDENTIFY MORE WITH REPUBLICANS LATINOS MORE DEMOCRATIC
Melting Pot
Simpson Mazzoli Act
requires that employers document the citizenship of their employees, whether U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.
Political Culture
Most Americans share a common set of values – What makes us American? Treating all equally*** (most agreed
upon by minority groups) Trying to get ahead Speaking English Voting Speaking up for the country Believing in God
Regional Shift
Florida, California, Texas – seeing largest population growth in nation
States gain or lose congressional representation as their population changes, causes power shift
Reapportionment – every 10 years after census; reallocates seats in the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Graying of America
Nationwide – fastest growing age group is citizens over 65 Birthrate has dropped People are living
longer
As we grow older, political orientation grows firmer.
Political Socialization
The process of acquiring political orientations – knowledge, feelings, evaluations.
Family, Mass Media, School
Family – time and emotional commitment.
Majority of young people vote according to political leanings of their parents.
Mass Media
The “new parent” – young people spend more time watching television than at school each week
Public Opinion and Political Action
Formation of public opinionAn
event takes place
Media Reports Event Individuals respond to the event
Peer and secondary groups form opinions
Polls measure national public
opinion about the event
Public Opinion is
formed
School
Governments throughout the world use schools to attempt to raise children committed to the basic values of the system
Teach virtues of capitalism and democracy
Opinion Polls Scientific or unscientific? Are respondents selected by pollster or
respondents select themselves (volunteer)?
Gallup (George Gallup) Poll – best known scientific poll
Straw poll – an informal type of voting where results have little or no direct results – just gauge opinion. Tells which way the wind is blowing.
Exit polls – public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision. Not SCIENTIFIC!
Critics of polls – politicians more concerned with following than leading
Key to accurate polls – RANDOM SAMPLING
Pew Research Center Happiness research
Polls
Polls enable political leaders to keep up with changing opinions.
Polls are criticized because it causes politicians to be more concerned with following than leading.
American Political Ideologies
Political Ideology – set of consistent and interrelated attitudes that shape judgments about and reactions to political issues.
Political Socialization
Opinions – judgments on issuesAttitudes – broad orientations on issuesValues – basic ideals and beliefs on issues
Learned from family, peers, media, education, religion, groups, events, region of country, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity
Political Ideology – attitudes that shape our judgments about and reactions to political issues
Determines
Liberal v. Conservative
Which one are you?
A few interesting facts… Younger people are less likely to vote,
therefore conservatives are overrepresented at the polls. Why?
Groups with political clout tend to be more conservative than groups whose members have often been shut out from political power
Excluded groups (African-Americans, Hispanics) often look to the government to rectify the inequalities they have faced – a more liberal view.
What will happen with the influx of many more Hispanics into the electorate?
More interesting facts…
Women are not a minority group (54% of population) but have been politically and economically disadvantaged
Women are more likely than men to support spending on social services and oppose higher levels of military spending – liberal views (gender gap)
Women are more likely to support a Democratic candidate (Clinton)
Liberal-Conservative Self-Identification
On a 7 point scale on which the political view that people might hold are arranged from extremely liberal to extremely conservative, where would you place yourself on this scale, or haven’t you thought much about this?
Extremely liberal
Liberal
Slightly liberal
Moderate, middle of the road
Slightly conservative
Conservative
Extremely conservative
DK, haven’t thought
Political participation
Critical to a successful democracy Takes time and energy Requires knowledge of the political
process Most common form of participation in
U.S. = VOTING
Political Efficacy
people need to feel their political activity will make a difference
Everyone has the legal right to participate
Who participates?
The “haves” tend to speak with a louder, steadier and more influential voice than the “have-nots”
The politically active have more influence in public policy (older people)
More education, more income, older– more active
Ways to participate
Vote! Campaign activity Protest (Boston Tea party, ACT-UP,
civil disobedience) Non participation
Public’s trust in Government
Has decreased since 1954 – Why?
Civil Rights Movement Vietnam (1963-1975) Watergate (1972) Nixon resigns (1974) inflation, Oil embargoes (support for Israel in 1973 Arab-
Israeli war) Iranian Hostage crisis Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1977), boycott Olympics
(1980) Hostage rescue failure (Carter) Reagan takes office in 1981 – Iranians release hostages. Iran – Contra (1984-1986) Slight increase in public trust of government in early
1980’s.
Texas QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau