Sunday November 15 2015 Political Science Exam II The following notes consist of virtually every word from each of Professors Lipsmeyer s lecture for the content of the second exam 10 8 Public Opinion American Political Culture When compared to developed democracies there are many differences Most believe in a limited government We have never had a feudal system no king no aristocracy like a lot of european countries Our system of government and economy were not based on the land Our society was not class based like in the feudal system While we have socialist parties they have never been very big or a big part of our politics We agree on a limited government that protects our rights Louis Hartz The Liberal Tradition in America The liberal tradition he points out that we have a singular political culture that is widely agreed on He says that we all speak the language of John Locke in the belief of Limited government and natural rights Where we all go our different directions is in which rights are most important and how the government should behave That is where the heated political debates come from but they are rarely about the fundamental principles of republican government Origins of Public Opinion Your opinion will be what most benefits you Many influences on Public Opinion Public Opinion Public opinion is important because we want to keep that republican aspect The government should be asking the people what they want James Madison did not trust the people We were not supposed to be able to change the government system as much as we do today he believed the people should be a step removed from the government The founders did not believe that the public opinion should be driving politics Values and Beliefs Political Socialization into the process research shows that one of the biggest influences is your family Most people start off as the political party that their parents are Political Scientists who are looking at whether or not opinions are biologically based 1 Sunday November 15 2015 Polling Surveys and Polls fairly new in our history going back to 1930 s They were bad at the beginning 1936 FDR is up for reelection against Alfred Landon The Literary Digest made a survey to their subscribers making an announcement that Landon was going to win the election FDR won that election by a landslide Dewey Beats Truman and we have never had a president Dewey Surveys were very new and very wrong scientific way to figure out public opinion It is considered to be a good election if there are 50 voting participation Back in the founding era candidates would look at how crowds responded to their stands on issues Protests and demonstrate can allow the government to know if there are strong feelings against something Surveys Population the group of people who s opinion you want to know It is almost impossible to survey every person in the population Sample The group of people within the population whose opinion you gather You want to gather a simple random sample for a survey sample in order to obtain the most accurate results Stratified Sample random samples subgroups of a population For the FDR election the Literary Digest readers had high income and were hoping that Landon would win That survey was extremely skewed and biased The margin of error gets smaller as you survey more people Judge the Reliability of a Survey Who sponsored the poll Who did the polling Who was interviewed and how many 2 Sunday November 15 2015 2 What questions were asked When were the interviews conducted What is the margin of error 10 13 Public Opinion Media I Finish Polling Exit Polling Camping outside of ballots asking voters who they voted for Political concerns about polling sometimes polls don t actually measure public opinion but actually create public opinion Often times people don t develop an opinion until they are asked about it Surveys aren t as scientific as people think 1 Band Wagon Effect People may not care about the political issues at the time but when they are asked they jump on the band wagon and support who they feel the majority of the population supports 2 Push aside other expressions of public opinion If the polls show that the candidate that you like doesn t have a chance then where is the motivation to participate in the vote Public opinion isn t perfect but the perception is that the polls have spoken so its not worth your time 3 Polls can t measure the intensity of opinions If one person says I guess and another is a radical supporter they both show up in the polls as a supporter and the perception of a candidates supporters become skewed In 1970 the Gallop Poll 5 of questions were about Vietnam War 1 of questions were about racial issues and the rest of the questions were about business and industry When you looked at the poll it gave off the idea that Americans were focused on business 4 Polls have become the news When you re looking up to inform yourself of current events the bulk of information you find is polls It is important to acknowledge that you need more than just the numbers the why is important 5 Polls are sometimes used for marketing If a poll asks you who you are going to vote for push polls seeding the electorate These are polls where there is no interest in measuring the opinion but rather changing it In the 2000 Republican Primary in South Carolina it is McCain and Bush Jr Carl Road from the bush campaign puts out a 3 Sunday November 15 2015 telephone poll with basic campaign questions If you discovered that John McCain has an illegitimate black child would it change your opinion on voting for him In reality he has an adopted Bangladesh child and this did affect the election The American Media First Amendment Freedom of Press At the very beginning things were messy and there was a lot of mud throwing in the media Things were nasty between Adams Federalist and Jefferson Democratic Republican Adams pushes congress to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 Part of this act made it illegal to criticize the government False scandalous and malicious writing against this made it illegal to publish things going against the government This was aimed at Jefferson by Adams Most of this act was repealed by 1802 The ugliness in the media tied to how the partied attacked each other Over time the media becomes less partisan or biased and become a part of the political process by realizing that they are missing half of the story The press becomes more national moving stories
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