Unit 3 Review

Political culture

• The Political System– Liberty- preoccupied with rights– Equality- vote, chance to succeed–Democracy -government accountable–Civic duty- help out– Individual responsibility- responsible for

actions and well-being

Political Culture

The Sources of Political Culture: Historical Factors

• American Revolution was essentially over liberty and asserting rights

• Spirit of the Constitution was to reconcile personal liberty with social control-asserting and maintaining rights= adversarial culture

• Distrust of authority reflects belief that human nature is depraved (original sin)

• Jeffersonian transition reconciled need for and suspicion of government (opposition ok, liberty and change can coexist)

Political Culture

Mistrust of government

• Increase since late 1950s?• Causes:

I am not a crook.

I did not have sexual relations

with that woman.

Peace with honor?

Ideas of American Politics

The Crisis in Context

• Level of trust in the 50’s may have been abnormally high…just leveling off now

• May have been fewer catalysts to express patriotism in 60’s and 70’s

• Events of 9/11 provided reason for extraordinary outburst of patriotic fervor (=increased trust in govt.)

Ideas of American Politics

2 Cultural Camps• Orthodox: (fundamentalist Protestants)

-morality is as, or more important than self-expression-morality derives from fixed rules from God

• Progressive: (liberal Protestants or no religious beliefs)

-personal freedom is as, or more important than tradition-rules change based on circumstances of modern life and individual preferences

Culture war occurs both between and within religious denominations Special historical importance:

-more people consider themselves progressive today-rise of technology (and media) makes it easier to mobilize

Ideas of American Politics

Polling

• How does polling work?– Need to ask reasonable, fairly worded questions

• Not: Do you think Obama is doing a good job?

– Have to ask people about things for which they have some basis to form an opinion

– Random sampling necessary– Have to be aware of sampling error (difference b/t results of 2

surveys) 5% or less is good– For populations over 500,000 pollsters need to make about

15,000 phone call to reach 1065 respondents, ensuring the poll has a sampling error of only +/- 3%-increasingly difficult to get (why?)

– Reliability harmed by low response rates Public Opinion

Socialization: Family• Party identification of family is absorbed by children

-although this has been declining in recent yearsBy age 11 over ½ of kids identify with a party• Younger voters exhibit less partisanship; more likely to

be independent• Clear political ideologies are passed on in only a few

families

-60% of adults still identify with their parents’ political party (although this can change over time)

Forming Political Opinions

Socialization: Religion

• Families form and transmit political beliefs through the religious tradition

• Religious influences on public opinion are most pronounced on social issues

Forming Political Opinions

Gender Gap• Men have become increasingly Republican since the

mid-1960’s• Women have continued to identify with the

Democratic party at the same rate since the 50’s• Reflects attitudinal difference between men and

women about size of the govt., gun control, social programs, and gay rights

• Not clear whether gap is as large in minority groupsMarriage matters as much as gender!

Forming Political Opinions

Socialization: Education• From 1920’s-60’s studies showed college has a

liberalizing effect (possibly b/c of exposure to liberalizing elites)

• Contemporary college students’ opinions are more complicated

18-24 year olds favorably disposed toward public sector, but not consistently in favor of small govt.

Belief in individual choice (school vouchers, gay rights, etc) is the axial political question

In the last generation, increased schooling has not led to increased political participation

Forming Political Opinions

HUGE Generalizations!Democrats

• Unskilled workers• African Americans and

Latinos• NE and West• Women (more than

men)

Republicans• Affluent white collar• Asians• South, Midwest• Men (more than

women)

•Education is a toss up: College has liberalizing effect, but grads usually end up being affluent white collar workers.

“Rule of Thumb” (which is violated a million times every day)

• Liberal View– Favors bigger welfare state– Favors smaller military establishment– Pro-choice

• Conservative View– Favors smaller role of government– Support a strong military– Favors prayer in school– Pro-life

Political Ideology

Liberal

• Government should provide jobs, medical care, education for all

• Increased taxation of the rich

• Strict enforcement of civil rights (affirmative action, etc)

• More tolerant of protests• Legalize marijuana, gay

marriage, and protect rights of the accused, stricter gun laws

Conservative

• Government should provide people with adequate personal freedom to conduct their lives as they choose

• Lower taxes• Traditional, family and social

values are stressed– No gay marriage– No abortion

• Seen as tougher on crime• Right to bear arms

Political Ideology

The Nonvoting Problem?• Alleged problem: low voter turnout in U.S.

compared to Europe–But perhaps not as much of a problem as we

think • Real problem is low voter registration rates • Data tends to compare turnout of voting age

population rather than voting eligible population

• Remember, voting is not the only method of participation Voter Turnout

Voter Turnout• Several causes probably contribute to a real

decline–More difficult registration–No uniform national voting system

(yeah, we’re looking at you, Florida)

–Calculation of turnout- is there really a drop?

Some scholars believe that non-voters mirror voters so their absence has little effect on election outcomes. Voter Turnout

Change in Control• States initially decided who could vote and for which offices• Through various laws and constitutional amendments, Congress

has reduced state prerogatives – 15th Amendment (1870)- voting rights can’t be based on race– “Grandfather Clause” declared unconstitutional 1915– 19th Amendment (1920)- women– 23rd Amendment (1961)-DC– Voting Rights Act of 1965– 26th Amendment (1971)- voting age= 18

-influenced by Vietnam

• National standards now govern most aspects of voter eligibility

Voter Turnout

Forms of Political Participation (Besides Voting)

• Litigation• Protest/public demonstrations• Contacting media or public officials• Campaign work, voter registration• Campaign contributions• Running for/holding political office • Political discussion (Way to go, AP Government!)

• Membership in a political organization Political Participation

Causes of Participation

• Education- more=more• Religion- involvement develops skills

associated with political participation • Gender- equal• Race – Black participation is lower, BUT

controlling for socioeconomic status, they actually participate at a higher rate

Political Participation

Factors that Decrease Turnout

• Youths, minorities pushing down percentage of eligible adults who are registered and vote

(Ya darn kids!)

• Parties less effective in mobilization • Remaining registration impediments have

negative effects• Voting not compulsory• Feelings that elections don’t matter

Political Participation