POS Notes Ch 1 Public opinion is citizens collective attitudes and beliefs about politics and Poli Scientist V O Key discovered that much of what we vote for comes from government ourselves and our natural beliefs It influences public policy gives feedback to politicians also influences media It improves representation influences public policy helps lobbyists make their case and it reflects changes in public support It informs candidates their strengths and weaknesses informs funders where to put money and entertainment Americans are fickle and change their mind often on issues Core political values that make up ideology include o the role of gov o individualism o equal opportunity o moral issues o view of primacy of economic market Ideology over time fluctuates a bit whereas little issues fluctuate often Political Socialization o Primary principle o Structuring principle Political scientists study polls and from them they learn o Approval ratings o Overall view of gov and institutions o Assessment of political knowledge participation o Demographics The founding fathers and early political scientists did not trust the public Public opinion may be more trustworthy as registered voters are typically more informed Trusting a Poll Must be scientific have a clear question have a large survey sample be randomly selected Must be scientific and have a clear question Unscientific surveys include call in polls man on the street polls at political events push polls online polls etc A 95 margin of era means the pollsters are 95 confident the real number is within Margin of Era About 1500 people for a proper margin of error of 3 Question wording and placement can lead to measurement error Framing effect where previous questions can affect later question answers Having a lot of idks is bad A push poll is not valid because it is intended to sway the voter Exit polls are when survey workers ask people who they voted for after the election it provides direct honest already made decisions telephone calls cant Primary purpose of exit poll to collect relevant data fast Good surveys use both landlines and cell phones to be sure to contact the citizen may not have one of the types of phones They make many attempts bc they need to know the opinion of the randomly selected person This helps decide which demographics are voting for who Some people didn t want to be interviewed or bothered Chapter 2 POS Notes Influences of political participation include Influencing how others vote wearing button giving money to party etc People who have resources have interest and somebody asked were most likely to participate in politics Voting is so important because the winner is often decided by what voters turn out and we are a representative democracy In order for people to vote the benefits must outweigh the costs Costs of voting o Monetary o Time o Informational How to reduce the costs of voting o Making registration easier providing convenience voting voting on Saturday holiday providing information on candidates so people will know how to vote Benefits of voting o civic duty feeling of efficacy social pressure Who tends to vote more often o The more educated wealthy and eldest and white tend to vote Three ways to measure turnout o Voting age population VAP most in use easier to be collected by US Census o Voting eligible population VEP o Registered voters Presidential turnout rates bad news is that in general turnout went down for a while but started to spike again in the 90s 2012 turnout was lower than 2008 but still higher than between 1972 2000 Voting participation is increasing among young voters More voters turn out for presidential elections than midterm elections States have primary responsibility for voting and elections Decisions include who can vote how easy it is to vote when primaries are Absentee voting and early voting mail voting make voting easier held etc Florida has felon voters Because of this in 2011 early voting was reduced can t cast ballot if have changed address efforts to keep non residents from voting made tougher Florida now has 14 days early voting has no excuse absentee voting and for ex felons to vote requires a photo id o 27 votes have no excuse absentee voting 32 have early voting 2 have mail voting OR WA 7 have permanent absentee status There is no mandatory voting States have very different VAP voting turnout Four Constitutional provisions related to voting o 15th Amendment Race 1870 o 19th Amendment Gender 1920 o 24th Amendment Taxes 1964 o 26th Amendment Age 1971 Article 1 Section 4 of U S constitution as well as the 12th amendment say we can vote Federal Laws regarding voting o Voting rights act of 1965 prohibits discrimination in voting o Motor voter act of 1993 required states to allow eligible voters to register when applying for a drivers liscense o Help America vote act 2002 goal to upgrade aspects of election procedures Voting Rights Act 2013 Supreme Court decided states must get approval from department of justice or federal court when changing voting rules Retrospective voting voting based on past prospective future Most voters base their decision based on their socio economic status of the past 4 years Political Party cues most important cue Other important factors include Party loyalty personality of candidate issues candidate characteristic POS Chapter 3 Notes 1 At first the only direct election was every 2 years to elect members of the House of Representatives 2 The founding fathers were skeptical of the general public s decision making capabilities and wanted to limit direct involvement of the public in governance 3 In the 2014 election there are 35 U S Senate seats up for grabs 435 Congressional seats the Florida governor and cabinet and the Florida House of Representatives and of the Florida Senate 4 35 senate seats are up for general election dem majority open seats 12 5 All 435 seats up for House of Representatives now mostly republican need 218 for majority only 38 seats competitive 6 The Senate is the primary focus since the democratic party may lose its majority 7 We hold a general election in the US every 2 years even numbered 8 Plurality voting a system where single winner of most votes wins election even if candidate does not capture majority of vote 9 Campaign Strategies a Party oriented b Issue oriented c Candidate oriented 10 We have no constitutional right to vote in US or Florida constitution It is the state responsibility to set time place and
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