POLS 102 1st Edition Exam #2 Study Guide Public Opinion – “those opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed (KJKV pg. 437).”- Majoritarian Modelo Majoritarian Democracy is responses based on what the majority of the population wants. Occurs through public opinion. The majority of the people getting what they want – how the world should work.- Steps Necessary to achieve Majoritarian Democracyo The electorate is informed about policy (e.g. health care reform; social security reform; etc. and the positions that politicians have on these issues) Policy Instruments -> Policy Outcomes- What the government does -> what occurs- Example: the government subsidizes insurance = more people have health insurance = healthier insurance pool = lower insurance costo Individuals develop positions on issueso Individuals develop knowledge about the positions of political candidates on these issues Are they for or against an issue that I care about?o Individuals vote (choose candidates) based on congruence between their issue positions and those candidateso The government implements majority opinion through laws If you’re a minority you incur conformity costs.- Majoritarian Assumptions1. The public actually has correct knowledge about issues and candidatesa. Is this really the case? Noi. Time is scareii. People may not know about all issues but instead only focuson one or two. iii. People may not have access to the sources necessary to gaininformation 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.iv. People tend to look at the world through partisan colored classes and only know about issues based on their party affiliation.2. Fixed/Firm Public Preferences about what policies should be made by thegovernmenta. Is this the case? No. American public opinions often change.3. A Majority actually exisitsa. Dahl’s critique “the myth of presidential mandate”i. Presidents were arguing that they had a mandate to pass a la because they were elected on a specific issue.ii. Dahl (a pluralist) says that idea is laughable because a mandate doesn’t exist. iii. There are citizens and there are subsets that are mutually exclusive1. Within the subsets we can make claims about the votersiv. It’s not clear that the majority elected the president or that they elected him on one specific issue1. People may not have supported Obama on his healthcare plan but they may have voted for him anyways because they didn’t like Romney. - Predisposition – the tendency to do somethingo People tend to resist arguments that are inconsistency with their political predispositions, but they do so only to the extent that they possess the contextual information necessary to perceive a relationship between the message and their predispositions. o The Resistance part of RAS model- “Top of the Head” Considerations – the more recently a consideration has been called to mind or thought about, the less time it takes to retrieve that consideration or related considerations from memory and bring them to the top of head for use.o The Accessibility part of RAS model.- Response Variability – individuals answer questions by averaging across the considerations that are immediately salient or accessible to themo The Response part of RAS model.- Dynamic Representationo Public Moodo Elected Officials (e.g., members of Congress, the President) Policy preferences Desire to remain in officeo Rational Expectations of Elected Officials  Officials change their behavior (e.g., votes)o Therefore, the policy decisions in government respond to the public’s mood That is, public opinion influences public policy- RAS Modelo The RAS model is a perspective on how individuals process and use information from the political environment to express opinions Predispositions (see “Acquiring Opinions,” pp.472-4 of KJK) Persuasive Messages - Information given to us to persuade - State of the Union Cueing Messages (see “Opinion Leadership,” pp. 458-460 of text)- Gives us context on why we should believe the persuasive message  Political Awareness (Political Knowledge, 451)- How much you know about politics - Political knowledge varies  Considerations - Things that we believe - Messages that have been accepted  “Top of the Head” Considerations Sampling - Refers to what we do when we decide what our opinion is on a public policy matter o The Model’s Stages *Chart on Ecampus*o Influence varies across political awareness: *Chart on Ecampus*o The RAS model explains a lot successfully: Priming/Framing (pp. 457-8, 471 KJK) Response Variability  Question Order Effects in Public Opinions Surveyso Casts doubt on all assumptions of majoritarian model Knowledge  Fixed Preferences  That a majority existso (8) Dynamic Representation (reading 10-2) makes a lot of sense given the RAS model o- RAS Assumptionso Reception Assumption  The greater a person’s level of cognitive engagement with an issue, themore likely she or he is to be exposed to and comprehend (i.e. “receive”) political messages concerning that issue.o Resistance Assumption  People resist arguments that are inconsistent with what they already believe o Accessibility Assumption  The more recently a consideration has been called to mind or thought about, the less time it takes to retrieve that consideration or related considerations from memory and bring them to the top of the head foruse.o Response Assumption Individuals answer survey questions by averaging across the considerations that are immediately salient or accessible to them.- Persuasive/Cueing Messages Persuasive Messages - Information given to us to persuade - State of the Union Cueing Messages (see “Opinion Leadership,” pp. 458-460 of text)- Gives us context on why we should believe the persuasive message - Samplingo Refers to what we do when we decide what our opinion is on a public policy matter.o Part of the RAS model- Ideology (KJKV, Ch 10.)– elaborately organized sets of political attitudeso “In theory, Ideologies promote consistency among political attitude by connecting them to something greater, a more general principle or set of principles. o In practice, Ideologies often combine attitudes linked more coalitional politics than by principle. o The ideological