Chapter 6 The Individual in Democratic Government Participation is important and it is your civic duty to participate and support your government In most elections some people show up to vote in the presidential elections Then it depends because in some states participation is lower than 50 In the south participation is always low Vote for Elected Offices 10 60 depending on type of election States with potheads vote for legalization of marijuana When it comes to controversial issues the legislatures might not be willing to stick their neck to vote for an issue so people will vote and protest o Ex Prohibition legislators used the people voting for removing prohibition If a legislator says that they voted against removing prohibition they will lose votes in the future Job security is important for legislators Attend public meetings 3 20 A lot of people went to meetings to voice opinions about Affordable Care Act My Generation My generation has never been very active 60s 70s were active trying to fight for freedom and civil rights Students in Berkley who tied themselves to the administration building to protest freedom of speech o Vietnam War protesting mostly students Students went to the south to register people to vote and many were killed It s always idealized college students who fight for freedom generation of the 60s 70s Very very few people choose to run for office Less than 1 of the population will run for office Perception is flawed because you hear them all the time Forms of Public Participation Voting Talk about politics Organizations o Join interest groups ect Attending public meetings o Attending meetings for the Affordable Care Act Contributions o When you contribute to a political party Some people will give money o Write letters email Tweeting give them their opinion to candidates Communicating with representatives Campaigning Initiating and repealing laws o Initiative and referendum o Texas does not have this New recent thing Western states have it If you care about a subject Different states have to have a certain percentage of numbers to support a particular cause when you have enough numbers they can put this issue on the ballot People like to do this during presidential elections because more people show up for presidential elections vs city elections People will vote yes or no This is true democracy and more of a democratic way Texas as a partially Traditionalistic state legislators will pick up the issues and let us vote vs the bottom up people to legislators Seeking public office o Many people choose not to run because you will lose your privacy and they will pick out every skeleton in your closet Less than 1 of the population will run for office you have to live a life where you can t do anything States with Referendum Massachusetts and Maine have it then many of the Western states States with Initiative People pick up an issue statutes are laws constitution amendments Difficulties for Scientific Study Public opinion poll fluctuates Look at different forms of data and sometimes the data is very difficult to obtain Self Reported Information o Not as reliable o Some people say they are conservative they are where the wind blows the wind is currently blowing for conservatism o The problem is that people don t know what you are until you look at o Many people are really libertarians and populists when they say current issues conservative Reliability and Validity Bias in Response o For your scientific study to be valid it should be true for the American public and not just for a group of people o Bias in interviewer response Bias when an attractive reporter talks to a man People want to save face and will say things they don t believe in Answers for a black reporter will be different A good poll will have good mathematics that they are able to tease out and built in errors of the poll already Survey Research and Polling The American Voter published in 1960 Polling and research has gotten better and better o When Obama won in 2008 2012 Romney didn t even have a concession speech when you loose Obama had a good statistician advised the county this is where you should approach based on these numbers and these districts Nate Silver right now he works for ESPN When he believed that Obama will win no one believed him but he used stats The interview was conducted for the 1952 1956 elections o The majority of Americans aren t constrained ideologically You re wishy washy political conservatives will always vote many people support issues that they have no idea what it s about The American Voter Only 3 of the population are consistent with their ideology 12 of population are near ideologs consistently o Ideology by proxy connecting to a person and believing what they say Trump says something you trust him and believe in what he says o Group benefits votes for the benefits the government will benefit you wealthy will vote Republican o Nature of the times where the wind blows They do not know the true meaning of being affiliated with a political party o American voter looks at personality smile to make decisions o 1 5 out of 10 people know their ideology o American voters are more than happy to share their public opinion Measuring Public Opinion Every public opinion will have a margin of error Question wording o Good pollsters don t ask how old are you Sampling Older people will lie and say they are younger We are a land of immigrants and some immigrant groups measure age differently Better question is what year were you born o Lie that they voted because they feel ashamed that they didn t vote o Choosing the wrong sample will ruin your data o Scientific Random Sample Guarantees that each person in the population has the same statistical chance of being selected o Contacting respondents Errors with mailing self selection the people who want to respond to mail are different than others Shortcomings of Polling Sampling error margin of error o 3 5 is OK o If the response is within the error you can t really predict o Want a sample size that is appropriate for the population Limited respondent options o Many of these polls are taken with an agenda The questions are worded in a way where you will answer yes or no o Prefer strongly agree agree somewhat agree ect o 7 options and then you pick Lack of Information o People do not know what you are asking o You don t know the intensity of how strong of an opinion people have Intensity Participation Uncommon Participants not
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