PLSC 2003 EXAM 3 Study Guide Public Opinion After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter Public Opinion citizens attitudes about political issues leaders institutions and events Selection Bias polling error that arises when the sample is not representative of the population being studied which creates errors in over representing or underrepresenting some opinions Push Polls a polling technique in which the questions are designed to shape the respondent s opinion Sample a small group selected by researchers to represent the most important characteristics of an entire population Sample Error polling error that arises based on the small size of the sample Political Ideology a cohesive set of beliefs that forms a general philosophy about the role of government Generational and Lifestyle Effects 2 What are the problems with polling Only snapshots questions not properly worded or worded to illicit a certain response 3 How is public opinion measured Probability sampling accurately reflects population being studied and Random Sampling respondents chosen randomly from a list 4 What are the three values Americans overwhelmingly favor Equality of opportunity Liberty and Democracy 5 What are the agents of socialization Home family school peers work profession media political and social conditions and generational lifestyle 6 Common types of political ideology in the US Liberals favor use of government to develop citizens and promote welfare of society or Conservatives favor use of government to protect values and traditions of society 7 Know the biggest difference in opinion in the groups polled on figures 6 2 and tables 6 1 6 2 What produces the biggest difference between men and women on national security issues whether or not we should torture terror suspects Campaigns and Elections After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter Political Participation refers to the activities we engage in to influence the government two types are indirect and direct PACS political action committees Soft Money unregulated money on advertising and grassroots support by parties and PACs Electioneering Communications campaign activity including advertising on television radio newspaper through the mail on the telephone over the internet or in person Retrospective how a candidate has done in the past Prospective how a candidate will do in the future 2 Different forms of participation Direct voting contributing money or time lobbying or litigation Indirect protests and rallies advertising participating in polls 3 Trends in voter turnout in presidential elections The voter turnout of eligible that actually vote is substantially decreasing since the start of the 1980s Turnout is low because parties and unions are weaker and voter apathy is increasing feeling that your vote doesn t matter Older people more likely to vote white employed people people with money and education turnout in Presidential elections higher than other elections in the US but much lower than in other democracies 4 Understand the process of registration in the U S and how some states used laws to discriminate and the Motor Voter Act Responsibility of citizen and every state has different requirements some states used discriminatory practices to drive down turnout among poor and blacks like the grandfather clause literacy tests and poll taxes Motor Voter Act of 1993 allows us to register at the DMV when you get your license making it easier to register but turnout is still low 5 Understand the purpose of a national primary why they were introduced and which states are most important in the process To make it more fair The primary is introduced to get the people voting for the party primary instead of the elite Iowa and New Hampshire because they vote first Purpose is to nominate a candidate to represent a party for elected office introduced to make process more democratic by decreasing elite power IA and NH most important 6 Understand the criteria for winning elections in the US Majority 51 wins some southern primaries by plurality most votes in others and general elections the electoral college awards delegates based on a system of winner take all winner gets all delegates vs proportional candidates get proportion of delegates based on of vote they received 7 Understand the campaign finance laws in the US FECA limited how much people could contribute how much candidate could spend and banned use of their own money required full disclosure and created the PMF system with spending limits created FEC Buckley overturned limits on candidate spending and ban on use of personal wealth and created magic words test creating a loophole for PACs BCRA tightened restrictions on PACs and Citizens United overturned them and others 8 Electoral College How it works Winner Take All going into a state if a candidate wins the votes they get all the delegates from that state 270 delegate votes needed to win election Tied Race how s it broken 2 ties in history of US which ones The Media After reading this chapter and studying your notes you should be able to 1 Define the bold terms throughout the chapter Priming preparing the public to take a particular view Framing influencing how events and issues will be interpreted Agenda Setting power to bring public attention to an issue problem via their gatekeeping function 2 Understand the sources of news in America and pays attention News Radio Print TV reaches the most Americans Internet allows citizens to shape and contribute The older you are the more likely you are to pay attention to the news Ex people ages 65 over read newspaper often 3 Functions of the media Investigative and Reporting 4 Know the different media powers Framing influencing how events and issues will be interpreted Priming preparing the public to take a particular view Agenda Setting power to bring public attention to an issue problem via their gatekeeping function 5 Regulation of the media and the Telecommunications Act The government does not regulate ownership but it is regulating content now focus on content versus ownership EX cussing on news and nudity not allowed 6 Why is a free media necessary It allows voters to make their own decisions based off information they receive from the media A government subsidized media would allow the government to reveal only what they wanted to reveal to the