POLS 101 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last Lecture I. Federalism Cont. II. Advantages and Disadvantages of FederalismOutline of Current Lecture I. Public OpinionII. LinkagesIII. Does the public know enough?Current LectureI. Public Opinion- the populations preferences for or evaluations of issues, candidates, institutions, and other aspects of politics. Can ask people opinions on elections. Not all opinions are the same.A. Intensity- intense opinions on matters of which you care greatly about, gun rights, abortion policy, may have a variety of opinions but some may be more important to the individual than others.B. Salience- Some opinions have greater “salience”, the issue is salient to you if in fact ithas an impact on your own life. Some opinions are more important to people because they are salient. C. Latency-can be an issue, there are issues out there where the individuals has not formed a specific opinion, therefore that opinion is latent. If a particular event happens, that event make may opinion rise to awareness. D. May be you can have “Non-Attitudes”. When taking a survey your opinion could be latent but the survey taker may interpret it as non attitudesE. Citizens use “pathways” to participate in government.II. Linkage Mechanism- if that link is really there, citizens have a good chance of influencinga government decisions- types of linkagesA. Pathways- way citizens can participate in government. B. ISSUE VOTING- if you are going to influence a government decision it must be issue voting, there can be many reasons when choosing candidate to vote for but if wanting to influence government it must be issue voting. The citizen has an opinion 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.on an issue. The candidate takes a position on the issue. The citizen votes on the basis of candidate most similar to the citizen’s view. C. LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION- This depends on the role an elected legislative chooses, a trustee, and an instructed delegate. A trustee is voting in the best interestof their constituents, what the trustee thinks it best not what the citizens think it best. An instructed delegate is representing their constituents views strictly, acts on behalf of those they represent. If the legislature chooses to be instructed delegate and votes according to constituent’s desires, then there is a linkage mechanism. D. POLITICAL PARTIES- Parties have to offer choice and take a position. Our parties in the US are NOT disciplined. In other countries, the elected official will vote accordingly to party desires. Want punishment if they stray from party ideals, in our country this is not very prevalent. Linkage Mechanism with that discipline.E. PROTEST- This is typically used if there are no other options open to you to make a change. To publicize opinions on issue, mostly people protest and it does not make change and very little happens. Last Resort option. Need respected spokesperson.F. INTEREST GROUPS- more effective linkage mechanism, groups take certain positions on issues. They might use court cases or lobby congress, the interest group represents a position on an issue that you care about, may contribute money to help cause. Tend to be effective. Interest groups sometimes influence the policy. G. Citizen preferences are communicated to government through the linkage mechanisms. III. Does the public know enough? A. Some citizens will pay more attention than others, groups like ATTENTIVE PUBLICS, who may know a reasonable amount about certain policy. Attentive publics may have interest views who represent their views.B. Some argue that is rational and reasonable for citizens to not have a lot of information, it is not an easy political system to understand. Over time, Americans support basic values that guide them in what their public opinions are such as equality and freedom.C. Most have PARTISAN IDENTITY that is stable, that in general they agree with their party on most issues, a shortcut to establishing
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