American Politics Exam 3 Study Guide Chapters 9 11 Attitudes preferences and opinions of the general public Public Opinion Gauging Public Opinion Early measures magazines o Straw Polls published as early as 19th century 1900 s 40 s era American o Millions of sample ballots would be mailed out to readers weeks or months before presidential elections o Doesn t necessarily represent public opinion as a whole typically a bias is present Informal Measures o Personal contacts mail from citizens o Can expose politicians to previously unrecognized issues o Likely to be biased Random Sampling o Typical presidential election polls contain 500 1200 citizens o Goal is to get a group that accurately reflects the extreme diversity of the United Over 1 000 preferred States population as a whole o Random selection used o Margin of error analysis key to accurately interpreting results Potential Biases o Biased Samples o Question Wording direction o Priming A sample that does not accurately reflect the overall population Questions worded in a way to steer the poll takers answer in a certain The process by which certain issues or certain aspects of an issue are made to seem more important in making a decision E g Poll question regarding building a jail deemphasizes an increase in taxes and instead focuses on positive aspects such as the creation of jobs Portraying a problem or decision so as to highlight certain aspects and influence decision making A loose coalition of groups and organizations with common goals that are oriented toward using mass action to influence the government o Framing Social Movements o Civil Rights o Women s Suffrage o Occupy Wall Street o Abolition o Anti War o State s Rights Interest Groups Any group which is organized for the purpose of influencing government Thousands of interest groups exist simply due to the fact that America is a diverse place with diverse interests Not all interest groups primary focus is to influence government o Corporations trade associations unions and foundations all act as interest groups even though their main focus is elsewhere Public interest groups Latent incentive o Organizations that seek a collective good o A benefit that a group can offer to potential members in exchange for participation encourages membership Political Parties Versus Interest Groups The main difference is that interest groups do not seek positions of power in government which is the primary goal of the political parties Lobbying Inside o Activities by lobbyists and interest group leaders that involve direct contact with policy makers o Meeting with legislators giving money Outside o Activities by interest group leaders that seek to mobilize constituents and others outside the policy making community to contact or pressure policy makers Benefits of lobbying officials o Can lead to more educated officials o Can target the officials influence to spread support for certain policies A private organization that raises money to influence elections or legislations Making money contributions to a politician is perhaps the greatest way to gain influence Activities citizens undertake to influence government behavior Popular sovereignty o Principle that the authority to make decisions on behalf of society belongs to the Political Action Committee Political Participation people Methods of o Contacting representatives o Rallies protests o Writing letters to media outlets regarding politics o Donating money to campaigns o Talking to others about politics Functions of elections o Select leaders o Direct policy choices o Citizen development o Inform the public o Contain conflict o Legitimacy and system stability Voting United States Generally there is a direct relationship between education income and voting in the Americans vote at lower levels compared to other democracies Americans engage in other forms of political participation at greater rates comparatively Voter mobilization o Efforts by organizations to facilitate or encourage voting Expansion of Voting Rights 15th Amendment o Granted African Americans voting rights o 1870 19th Amendment o Guaranteed women s suffrage o 1920 26th Amendment o Granted voting rights to 18 21 year olds o 1971