POLS 207 9TH Edition Lecture 12 Outline of Last Lecture I. EXAM LAST CLASS PERIODOutline of Current Lecture II. Individualistic & democratic governmentIII. Forms of public participationA. votingB.talking C.organizationsD.public meetingsE.contributionsF.campaigningIV. surveying, research and pollingV. shortcomings and pollingCurrent Lecture- Individual and democratic Governmento Southerners don’t participate in voting because of political cultureo Second highest in influence of the government are those who show up to vote What we have is an indirect democracy- The politicians we vote for are the ones in House we want voting for us so we are indirectly voting for our public policies Other states don’t have to wait on the indirect democracy- They have a Direct Democracyo Where they vote on the policies instead of the policies being indirectly voted on through our politicianso SLIDE 2** Spent a lot of time here  Gay marriage is being over ridden by many states representatives now but it is still considered unconstitutional These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. Newest Debate “Affordable Care Act” Somehow she jumped to the war in Iraq and that we had no business being there…- She said we have no business telling Russia that they have no business invading Ukraineo If we do then we are hypocrites Protest:- A form of political influenceo People that show up are your supporters You can predict people that are going to run for office because they have been doing that since they were young (ex. SBP, Club Pres, secretary…etc)o Forms of Public Participation  Voting  Talk about politics  Organizations Attending public meetings Contributions-putting money into campaign- Because they support them- Some put money in both the rep. and dem. because that way when theyemail them about an issue they are more likely to listen Communicating w/ representatives Campaigning – people who participate are called activist Initiating and repealing laws - Initiative and referendum Seeking Public officeo Difficulties for Scientific Study Self-reported Information- People informing about issues- Problem: people do not know who they are- We are going to be the elite of Texas because of our higher education Reliability and Validity- By having such a high education we are considered reliable and valid Bias in Response - Majority is sways one way or the other- Self-selectiono Surveying Research and PollingThe American Voter Published in 1960- Continues to influence the way we think of mass attitudes and behavior- Studied the 1952 & 1956 Presidential elections- Discussed how class coalitions led to party affiliation- These early studies led to the National Elections Study (NES), o Still drives POLI Scientists interested in voting behavior o These people Study and make predictions on the outcomes of thingso How we measure Public Opinion Question wording - You need know how the questions are phrased- Bad questions lead to bad results - She randomly starts talking about how when a Chinese baby comes out of the womb they are 1 year old because of 9 months in the womb - Relates because when you ask the question how old you are, you can get bad results because cultures are different  Sampling…- talking about a sample survey done to predict election results Contacting Respondents- How you get in touch with people- For 310,000,000 people your survey can be less than 100,000 **People look at the question to see if it’s a good surveyo Gallop: A good and reliable pollo Shortcomings of Polling Sampling error- margin of error- We must accept a 3-5% error and a 95% error for a gallop Limiting Respondent Options  Lack of Informations Intensity