POLS 206 Exam 2 Review Seat Number 141 Court Cases NY Times v Sullivan 1964 Story Court Decision o The NY Times publishes an article implication Sullivan in some nasty proceedings Sullivan then sues claiming libel false and malicious rumors o The Supreme Court says you must prove that they published that story with actual malicious or reckless intent Actual malicious or reckless intent is very hard to prove o Makes it VERY hard to win libel cases o Has gotten a little bit easier with the internet and emails Just publish it I don t like her anyway o It is easier to sue tabloids in the UK NY Times v U S 1971 Story Court Decision o Has to do with secret government documents having to do with the Vietnam War An opponent of the war got his hands on these documents and gave them to the New York Times The government takes the New York Times to court to block their publication saying these are confidential sensitive documents o The Supreme Court says the government cannot block it because there is no prior restraint on publishing o This is what gives us almost no regulation on print media o Since then there has been some cases about can you not block anything They have ruled that if the publication would take away one of your fundamental rights than it could be stopped Freedom of Press v Right to a Fair Trial o Case regarding majority minority gerrymandering districts o You cannot draw districts where race is the predominant factor You can use race with other things but not race alone Miller v Johnson Story Court Decision Key Terms Polling Background o Polling is a fairly new concept 20th century When it first started it was done horribly o Polling is not particularly easy nor is it so scientific that you can t tinker with it How do you start with polling o You will not be able to serve everybody in the population o You need to take a sample o If you do this correctly the results you get from your sample should be just as good as what you get from your population You need to sample your population o You need a random sample Margin of Error Every person in your big population has the same chance of being chosen for your sample o We tend to use stratified samples Stratified is also random Stratified samples are random samples within groups o Helps you interpret survey results o All surveys have some error o The more people you interview the smaller your number of error o The more people the easier it is it relate it back to the population o Surveys used to be done face to face Expensive Time consuming o Then we moved to telephone surveys Problem originally cell phone numbers were not in the phone banks Many people don t have landlines anymore o Now we are to online surveys o 3 4 is the normal margin of error o Margin of error is important because results become statistically different o Polling is supposed to be scientific but it is not an exact science o The way questions are worded can get different results The country isn t spending enough money one assistance to the poor 63 agree 19 agree The country isn t spending enough money on welfare Welfare has a negative connotation in America and more people don t support it There are some political concerns when using polls to measure public opinion public opinion o Sometimes polls don t just measure public opinion but create Sometimes when you ask questions people don t have an opinion so they have to create one The Band Wagon effect people who don t really have an opinion follow the candidate who everyone else supports Polls can give the allusion of saliency They can give the allusion that something is important to the public when the public really didn t have an opinion on it before you asked them o Polls can pus out other forms of participation If a certain candidate is projected to win anyway some people may not go vote because they think it will not make a difference anyway o Polls can t measure the intensity of your opinion One dimensional Polls ask you what you think about something not what you think is important of the most important Can give a misleading picture about what the public thinks wants o Polls have become the news Polls used to be used to help an issue along Now the polls drive the news o Polls can be used as marketing optional You can seed the electric Can be used as marketing in an ideological way Push Polls When you go out and ask questions but you are not interested in measuring the public s opinion but you want to plant a seed in someone s head to change their opinion Would it change your vote if you found out John McCain had an illegitimate black child o A rumor started through a poll Band Wagon Effect People who don t really have an opinion follow the candidate who everyone else supports Margin of Error Helps you interpret survey results All surveys have some error The more people you interview the smaller your number of error The more people the easier it is to relate it back to the population 3 4 is the normal margin of error Margin of error is important because results become statistically different Polling is supposed to be scientific but it is not an exact science The way questions are worded can get different results o The country isn t spending enough money on assistance to the poor 63 agree 19 agree don t support it o The country isn t spending enough money on welfare o Welfare has a negative connotation in America and more people Push Polls When you go out and ask questions but you are not interested in measuring the public s opinion but you want to plant a seed in someone s head to change their opinion Would it change your vote if you found out John McCain had an illegitimate black child o A rumor started through a poll Stratified Sample The kind of sampling we tend to use Also random Stratified samples are random samples within groups You need a random sample to sample your population Every person in your big population has the same chance of being chosen Random Sample for your sample Methods of Public Opinion Voting o Problem typically only 50 of the American population votes so we only get the opinion of the population that felt strongly enough to vote Crowd Response o Used to be a key way politicians could tell if they were pleasing the public o Key before the 20th century o Today this doesn t work as well Protests Politicians are less likely to give a speech in front of a crowd that doesn t already support them o Political participation o Can tell how strongly people feet about something o Don t
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