Chapter VI: Public Opinion and Political Action America was founded on the principle of tolerating diversity and

d individualism, and it remains one of the most appealing aspects of their society. The study of American public opinion aims to understand the distribution of the populations belief about politics and policy issues. The least informed are also the least likely to participate in the political process, a phenomenon that creates imbalances in who takes part in political action For American government to work efficiently and effectively, the diversity of the American public and its opinions must be faithfully channeled through the political process. A. The American People One way to look at the American public is through demographythe science of human population changes Most valuable tool: Census US Constitution requires the government to conduct an actual enumeration of the population every ten years (first conducted in 1790) The Census Bureautries to conduct most accurate count; not easy In 2000, the Clinton Administration scientifically estimated the characteristics of those millions who failed to respond to the census forms and follow-up visits from census workers (conservatives opposed because such a procedure would be subject to manipulation, be less accurate, and be unconstitutional) Department of Commerce v US House of Representatives (1999)Supreme Court ruled that sampling could not be used to determine the number of congressional districts each state is entitled to. However, the Court left the door open to use sampling procedures to adjust the count for other purposes (allocating federal grants to states) Once a group can establish its numbers, it can then ask for federal aid in proportion to its size. Changes in the US population, impact our culture and political system 1. The Immigrant Society a. Lyndon B. JohnsonAmerica is not merely a nation but a nation of nations. b. All Americans except for Native Americans are either descended from immigrants or are immigrants themselves c. Today, federal law allows up to 900,000 new immigrants to be legally admitted to the country d. Three great waves of immigration: 1) Prior to the late 19th century: a) Northwestern European b) Includes: English, Irish, Germans, and Scandinavians 2) During late 19th century and early 20th century: a) Southern and Eastern Europeans b) Includes: Jews, Italians, Poles, Russians, etc. 3) Recently: a) Hispanics b) Asians e. Immigrants bring their aspirations and their own political beliefs 1) Cubans and Vietnamese (anti-Communist sentiments)flee oppressive government; Irish and Russians 2) Such groups fostered a great appreciation for individualism in American public policy by their wish to be free of governmental control 2. The American Melting Pot a. Melting potthe mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation. The United States, with its history of immigration, has often been called a melting pot.

b. Minority majoritythe emergence of non-Caucasian majority, as compared with a white,

generally Anglo-Saxon majority. It is predicted that by 2060, Hispanic, African, and Asian Americans together will outnumber white Americans c. Until recently, the largest minority group has been African American. One in eight Americans were descendent of reluctant immigrants. 1) A legacy of racism and discrimination has left a higher proportion of the African American population economically and politically disadvantaged (27% live below the poverty line) 2) African Americans have recently been exercising a good deal of political power a) 1989Douglas Wilder (VA) first elected African American governoretc d. Similar problems face other minority groups 1) Hispanics (Mexicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans) a) 2000Hispanic outnumber African American b) Illegal immigration i) Simpson-Mazzoli Act requires that employers document the citizenship of their workers; must prove that they are either US citizens or legal immigrants in order to work ii) Act causes concern among leaders of immigrant groups who worry that employers may simply decline to hire members of such groups rather than take any chances iii) Another solution: denying all benefits from government programs to people who cannot prove that they are legal residents of the United States 2) Asians a) Driven by a new class of professional workers looking for better opportunities b) Asians who have come since the 1965 Immigration Act opened the gate to them make up the most highly skilled immigrant group in American history (the superachievers of the minority majority) 3) Most indigenous minority: Native Americans a) In 1910 census, only 210,000 Native Americans today (down from 12 million before Europeans) b) Least healthy, poorest and least educated in the melting pot c) Most Native Americans remain economically and politically disadvantaged e. Most Americans share a common political culturean overall set of values widely shared within society. f. Minority groups have assimilated many basic American values g. The emergence of the minority majority is just one of several major demographic changes that have altered American politics. 3. The Regional Shift a. For most of history, the most populous states have been concentrated in the states north of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi. b. Over the last 60 years, the population growth has been centered in the West and south. c. Demographic changes are associated with political changesStates gain or lose congressional representation as their populations change, and thus power shifts as well d. Reapportionment- the process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every decade, after every census. 4. The Graying of America a. Nationwide, the fastest growing age group in America is composed of citizens over 65 because people live longer as a result of medical advances and the birth rate has dropped substantially b. By the year 2010, the baby boom seniors will put tremendous pressure on the SS system. c. As the population has aged, new political interests have mobilized. The elderly now claim gray power. d. Senior citizens have discovered an old political dictum: strength in numbers B. How Americans Learn About Politics; Political Socialization

i)

Political Socializationaccording to Richard Dawson, the process through which an individual acquires his/her particular political orientationhis/her knowledge, feelings and evaluations regarding his/her political world. As people become more socialized with age, their political orientations grow firmer Authoritarian regimes are particularly concerned with indoctrinating their citizens at an early age. Example: Soviet UnionKomsomols and Young Communist League 1. The Process of Political Socialization a. Only a small portion of Americas political learning is formal. (Civics or government in high school teach citizens a little about government) b. Informal learning is much more important than formal and is generally more accidental: 1) Family a) Central role because of its monopoly on two crucial resources: time and emotional commitment b) One can predict how the majority of young people will vote simply by knowing the political leaning of their parents c) As children approach adulthood, some degree of adolescent rebellion takes place. Radical youth supposedly condemned their parents d) Moving out of the family nest and into adulthood, the offspring did become somewhat less like their parents politically 2) Mass Media a) The mass medianew parent b) Todays generation of young adults is significantly less likely to watch television news or read newspapers c) In 1990s, older people pay more attention to the news than most young adults 3) School a) Political socialization is as important to government as it is to an individual; this is one reason why schools are often used to promote loyalty to the country and support for its basic values b) Pledge of Allegiance= assumption that proper socialization in schools is crucial to the American political system c) Educated socialization could be a dangerous tool: Example: Nazis d) Both authoritarian and democratic governments care that students learn the positive features of their political system because it helps ensure that youth will grow up to be supportive citizens i) Not always the case. Well-socialized youths in the 1960 led the opposition to the American regime and the war in Vietnam ii) It could be argued that even these protestors had been positively shaped by the socialization process e) Today, education is often the issue that people cite as the most important to them f) Schooling is perhaps the most obvious intrusion of the government into Americans socialization; it exerts a profound influence on a variety of political attitudes and behavior g) Educated citizens more closely approximate the model of a democratic citizen 2. Political Learning Over a Lifetime a. Politics is a lifelong activity b. Because American is an aging society, it is important to consider the effects of growing older on political learning and behavior. c. Aging increases political participation until the infirmities of old age make it harder to participate d. Politics is a learned behavior

C. Measuring Public Opinion and Political Information The science of public opinion measurement includes polls, but there is skepticism in the polls. 1. How Polls are Conducted a. First developed by young man named George Gallupthe firm that Gallup founded spread through the democratic world; Gallup is actually the word used for an opinion poll b. Polls rely on samplesa relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the wholeinstead of asking every citizen for his/her opinion c. Herbert Asher analogy of blood tests d. In public opinion polling, a sample of 1000 to 1500 people can accurately represent the universe of potential voters e. The key to accuracy is the technique of random sampling- which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample f. Key to polling involves estimation; a sample can represent the population with only a certain degree of confidence (this level is known as the sampling error-more people, more confidence in results; depends on size of sample). g. In order to obtain results that will usually be within sampling error, researchers must follow proper sampling techniques 1) 1936 Literary Digest 2) Moral: Accurate representation, not the number of responses, is the most important feature of a public opinion survey h. Random digit dialing- a technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey a) Disadvantages include: 7 percent of the population do not have telephones, people are less willing to participate over telephone 2. The Role of Polls in American Democracy a. Polls help political candidates detect public preferencesit is a tool for democracy in which policymakers can keep in touch with changing opinions on issues b. Critics of polling think it makes politicians more concerned with following than leading; polls could discourage bold leadership c. Jacobs and Shapiro states that political leaders track public opinion not to make policy but rather to determine who to craft their public presentations and win public support for the policies they and their supporters favor and that the elites use them to formulate strategies that enable them to avoid compromising what they do d. Staff members in the White House and in Congress remarked that they conduct polls to sell their policies e. Bandwagon effect- refers to voters who support a candidate merely because they see that others are doing so; the issues of the recent presidential campaigns have sometimes been drowned out by the steady flood of poll results f. Most criticized type of poll is the exit pollpublic opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision 1) Voting places randomly selected and workers sent to ask every tenth person how they voted 2) This practice discourages many people from voting and thereby affects the outcome of some state and local races 3) Exit polls to blame for the 2000 Florida election results g. Perhaps the most pervasive criticism of polling is that by altering the wording of the question, pollsters can get the results they want h. The goodor the harmthat polls do depends on how well the data are collected and how thoughtfully the data are interpreted 3. What Polls Reveal about Americans Political Information

a. LincolnYou can fool some of the people all of the time, and al of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. b. Thomas Jefferson trusted peoples good sense and believed that education would enable a more serious undertaking of citizenship; Hamilton, however did not reflect confidence in peoples capacity for self-government c. The level of public knowledge is dismally lowless than half of the population could identify their leaders d. More people know their astrological sign than know the name of their representatives in the Housethats how bad the public knowledge is e. E.D. Hirsch, Jr. criticizes schools for a failure to teach cultural literacypeople often lack the basic contextual knowledge necessary to understand and use the information they receive from the news media or from listening to political candidates; increased levels of education has scarcely raised public knowledge about politics f. The paradox of mass politics is that the American political system works as wells as it does given the discomforting lack of public knowledge about politics 4. The Decline in Trust in Government a. Sadly, the American public has become increasingly dissatisfied with government over the last four decades b. Following the 1964 election, researchers started to see a precipitous drop in public trust in government. First Vietnam and then Watergate shook the peoples confidence in the general government. The economic troubles of Carter and the Iran hostage crisis helped continue the slide c. Some analysts have noted that a healthy does of public cynicism helps to keep politicians on their toes. Others, however, note that a democracy is based on the consent of the governed and that a lack of public trust in the government is a reflection of their belief that the system is not serving them well. D. What Americans Value: Political Ideologies Political ideology- a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, and policies.

1.
Foreign Policy: Military Spending

Who are Liberals and Conservatives?

Liberals Believe we should spend less Less willing to commit troops to action Support freedom of choice Are opposed Favor Conservatives Believe we should maintain peace through strength More likely to support military intervention around the world Support right to life Are supportive Oppose

Use of Force Social Policy: Abortion Prayer in School Affirmative Action Economic Policy: Scope of government Crime: Crime Taxes Spending How to Cut

View government as a regulator in the public interest Want to tax the rich more Want to spend more on the poor Believe we should solve the problems that cause crime Believe we should guard them

Favor free-market solutions Want to keep taxes low Want to keep spending low Believe we should stop coddling criminals Believe we should stop letting

 Rights

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a. The predominance of conservative thinking in America is one of the most important reasons for the relatively restrained scope of government activities compared to most European nations b. Some groups more liberal than others; the younger the individual, the less likely that person is to be a conservative. The fact that younger people are also less likely to vote means that conservatives are overrepresented at the polls. c. In general, groups with political clout tend to be more conservative because excluded groups have often looked to the government to rectify the inequalities they have faced. d. Women are not a minority group but they have been politically and economically disadvantaged. Its these issues concerning the priorities of government rather than the issue of abortionwomen are significantly less conservative than men. This ideological difference between women and men has lead to a gender gap-a term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Women tend to be significantly less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending. Gender gap is a relatively new predictor of ideological positions e. A much more traditional source of division between liberals and conservatives has been financial status or social class f. The role of religion in influencing political ideology has also changed 1) Catholics and Jews have long been more liberal than Protestants 2) The ideological gap between Catholics and Protestants is now smaller than the gender gap 3) Ideology is now determined more by religiosity, the degree to which religion is important in ones lifepeople who say they have no religious affiliation are more liberal than conservative 2. Do People Think in Ideological Terms? a. The American Voter examination of how much people rely on ideology to guide their political thinking. Groups: 1) Ideologuespeople who thought in ideological terms and could connect their opinions and beliefs with broad policy positions (12%) 2) Group benefitspeople who thought of politics mainly in terms of groups they like or disliked (42%) 3) Nature of the timespeople whose handle on politics is limited to whether the times seemed good or bad to them (24%) 4) No issue contentvoted routinely for a party (22%) b. These findings do not mean that the vast majority of the population does not have a political ideology, its just the terms liberal and conservative arent as important 3. Has There Been a Turn Toward Conservatism? a. Ronald Reaganmost conservative president since New Deal b. The rest of this is so boringjust know that there might have been a small sweep for conservatism during that time period E. How Americans Participate in Politics Political Participationall the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Includes voting, protestetc. Participation can be overt or subtle, violent or peaceful, organized or individual, casual or consuming 1. Conventional Participation a. Conventional v Unconventional 1) Conventionalincludes many widely accepted modes of influencing government voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbellsetc

2) Unconventionalincludes activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience and violence b. The number of Americans for whom political activity is an important part of their everyday life is minisculethey are the political elites c. Voting was the only aspect of political participation that a majority of the population reported engaging in d. Substantial increases were found on the dimensions of giving money to candidates and contacting public officials e. A broader look at political participation reveals some positive developments for participatory democracy 2. Protest as Participation a. Protest- a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics b. Protests today are often orchestrated to provide television cameras with vivid images. c. Demonstration coordinators steer participants to prearranged staging areas and provide facilities for press coverage d. Civil disobedience- a form of protest that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences e. Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi f. Sometimes political participation can be violent (turbulent 1960s) 3. Class, Inequality, and Participation a. The rates of political participation are unequal among Americans. Virtually every study of political participation has come to the conclusion that citizens of higher social economic status participate more in politics. This generalizationholds true whether one uses level of education, income, or occupation b. Theorists who believe that America is ruled by a small, wealthy elite make much of this fact to support their view c. One reason for the smaller-than-expected participation gap between African Americans and Hispanics is that minorities have a group consciousness that gives them an extra incentive to vote. d. People who believe in the promise of democracy should definitely be concerned with the inequalities of political participation in America. F. Understanding Public Opinion and Political Action 1. Public Attitudes Toward the Scope of Government a. Republican: the scope of American government too wide-ranging b. Ronald Reagan: government was not the solution to societys problemit was the problem c. For much of the population, questions about the scope of government has consistently elicited no opinion at all; it is one of the key controversies in American politics d. It seems that the public is not nearly so concerned with political issues as would be ideal in a democratic society. Nor does public opinion on different aspects of the same issue exhibit much consistency. 2. Democracy, Public Opinion and Political Action a. If the publics task in democracy is to choose who to lead, we must still ask whether it can do so wisely