6Public Opinion andPolitical Action Chapter Overview

Public opinion is defined as the collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public and groups within the public. Public opinion can be measured to provide insight into what the electorate is thinking about politics. In this chapter, we examine the nature of public opinion and political participation in the United States. We being by considering the ways in which public opinion is formed, and how that opinion shapes public policy. Next, we explore the process and agents of political socialization. We then turn to consider the question of measuring public opinion. Then we explore the influence of political ideology on political behavior. We conclude by exploring the various ways citizens can influence the political process, through voting, protest, and other avenues of political participation. By the end of the chapter, students should have a thorough understanding of the role and limits of public opinion and political participation in American politics.

Lecture Suggestions

Identify demographic trends and their likely impact on American politics.

LECTURE 1: Polling reveals differences in political attitudes that break along racial and ethnic lines. In the United States, for example, sharp differences can often be found between black and white Americans. Significant differences can also be found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white Americans. Explore some of these differences with your students.

While black and white Americans tend to agree on the core elements of American political culture, significant differences emerge on specific policy issues. African Americans tend to believe that the government

should play a more important role in helping people and making the United States more equal.

African Americans tend to be more liberal than whites on a number of economic issues, including affirmative action and public support for the poor, government regulation of corporations, and support for labor unions.

At the same time, African Americans tend to be more socially conservative than other liberals. Blacks tend to be more opposed to abortion and gay marriage, for example, than whites.

Important partisanship differences can also be seen, with African Americans breaking greater than 85 percent in favor of Democrats.

Hispanic Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Overall, they tend to be Democratic, with the notable exception of Cuban Americans, who tend to support the Republican Party. Hispanics tend to be more liberal in the areas of immigration rights and support for government-sponsored

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health care. But they tend to be more socially conservative in areas like gay marriage and abortion.

LECTURE 2: While Americans tend to view the United States as a classless society, important differences between working class and wealthy Americans exist. Explore some of these differences with your students.

Since the New Deal era, poorer Americans have tended to support the Democratic Party while wealthier Americans have tended to support the Republicans. Unionized households also tend to support the Democratic Party.

Lower-income Americans, though, often have distinctive policy preferences. While supporting more government intervention in the economy (through, for example, state support for job seekers, education, housing, and medical care), they also often express conservative positions on religious and cultural issues that align with the Republican Party.

Similarly, many high-income individuals, particularly those with postgraduate degrees, tend to be liberal on social issues, free speech, abortion rights, and civil rights.

LECTURE 3: American politics are often characterized by important regional differences, as maps of the Electoral College results from recent elections tend to illustrate. Explore the regional differences in American politics with your students.

Improvements in transportation have produced migration patterns that have concentrated likeminded people in certain regions.

The Pacific West (California, Oregon, and Washington) tends to be liberal, supporting Democratic candidates.

Similarly, most of the northeastern United States tends to be solidly Democratic.

Most southern and central states tend to be Republican. The consequence of these regional dynamics in presidential

politics has been to force campaigns to focus on a small number of swing states, like Florida, Colorado, and Ohio, where the parties are relatively well-balanced.

LECTURE 4: Other demographic factors also shape political attitudes. Education: Those with a formal college education, especially

graduate programs, tend to be more liberal minded. Education is also the single strongest predictor of political participation.

Gender: There is a “gender gap,” in that men tend to be more traditional and vote for Republicans, while women are more liberal and vote for Democrats.

Age has less of an effect, but the young tend to favor liberal issues, if they are active. Older Americans are not as set in their ways as previously believed. Newer studies show that they are much more open, which may be because they are more politically active.

LECTURE 5: Describe the landscape of American political ideology and explain how Americans come to hold the views they do.

Political beliefs are relatively stable in the United States, although some generational change is evident. Most Americans share a set of fundamental values, which include freedom, individualism, majority rule, and equality. However, they often disagree on how these values should be put into practice through policy.

Examine the fundamental values shared by most Americans, and the more specific policy views held by liberals and conservatives.

Describe the interplay between popular culture and political beliefs.

Political socialization, the process of acquiring information and beliefs about politics, occurs through a variety of agents of socialization: the family, schools, peers and community, religious institutions, the media, and exposure to national and world events.

Political opinion can be correlated with a number of demographic factors, including socioeconomic status, education, religion, race, and gender.

Outline how various forms of socialization shape political opinions.

LECTURE 1: Political socialization is the learning process by which individuals absorb information and selectively add it to their knowledge and understanding of politics and government. This process tends to be governed by two important principles:

Primacy refers to the notion that what is learned first is learned best. Political socialization begins during childhood, and political learning during childhood and adolescence seems to be particularly important in the development of an individual’s core beliefs and political outlook.

Persistence means that political lessons, values, and attitudes learned early in life tend to structure political learning later on in life.

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The most common expression of values, attitudes, and beliefs is the identification of an individual’s ideology—a consistent set of ideas about a given set of issues.

LECTURE 2: Identify and explore some of the formative political events over the past forty years.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and economic stagnation contributed to a strong anti-government sentiment that often cut across political divides.

In the 1980s, the Cold War and Reagan’s anticommunist policies shaped political views.

The 1990s were a period of steady economic growth and stability.

The September 11, 2001 terror attacks clearly shaped political opinion and socialization in the United States.

The ongoing economic slowdown of the 2010s will also likely affect political views, though perhaps in different ways than the Great Depression did in the 1930s.

Ask your students to identify other events that shaped political socialization in the United States.

LECTURE 3: Political socialization consists of several stages that span from early childhood to adulthood. Socialization occurs through agents of socialization and socializing events.

Children learn first from their families, particularly parents—their most important socializing agent. Parents are more likely to be open about their political beliefs in front of children than are other agents (teachers, friends, etc.). If parents spend little time talking about politics, the mechanisms of political socialization do not work as well. Early time spent with family

watching political programs or discussing political values helps children to develop their own political views and ideas. The most reliable area of transmission is political party—partisanship is inherited because it is easy to understand, more so than an opinion on a particular issue.

Religion is also an important agent of political socialization. While religions are dedicated to the spiritual realm rather than political, different religions teach different values with respect to punishment and mercy, social justice, etc. These values play an important role in thinking about politics; Jews tend to be Democrats, Evangelical Christians tend to be Republicans. Even when churches do not endorse a particular candidate or party, the religious values they preach can inform the values of members of the congregation.

Peer groups also influence political socialization. The friends that children most closely associate with will also have a significant impact on their development of political views, especially during adolescence. However, the salience of politics is generally low to adolescents, so the transmission is relatively limited.

Schools can be a powerful agent of socialization. Public schools actively seek to inculcate students with a respect for the law, authority, and democratic values. Children learn to appreciate the American political system and learn the rituals and symbolism. Because schools tend to be homogenous (similar kids going to school together), it is hard to parse out the educational system from the family. There is little evidence that school has a significant impact on partisan or issue attitudes.

The media also plays a role. Socialization depends on relevant information, which is provided by the media. What the media

choose to cover, how they choose to do so, and the accessibility of coverage all matter.

Finally, events can also socialize. One type of socializing event is a generational effect, when

younger members of a body politic are influenced by events in a way that makes their attitudes and beliefs different from those of older generations. Many people coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s reacted to the Vietnam War, which affected their politics. Anti-war protestors tended to be Democrats, while non-protestors did not. Those differences often held into adulthood.

Secondly, there are period effects; sometimes events exert noticeable impact across political generations and affect everyone.

Finally, the process of getting older can affect opinion as well—this is known as the life cycle effect.

Explain how polls are conducted and what can be learned from them about American public opinion.

LECTURE 1: Explain the key terminology around sampling and the polling process.

Sampling refers to choosing a small group of people to participate in a survey. For survey data to be valid, care must be taken to ensure that the sample is representative of the population. For political polls, this mean that pollsters must balance various demographics (young vs. old, men vs. women, various ethnic groups, etc.) and ideologies (conservative vs. liberal, Republican vs. Democrat) in rough proportion to their numbers in the overall population.

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Random samples refer to samples in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being in the sample group. Random sampling is considered the gold standard in survey research. Most polling organizations rely on random sampling techniques. In cases where the random sample is not representative of the total population, certain segments of the population can be “weighted” to account for the distribution.

Sampling error emerges because no matter how good the sample, it is never an exact match for the population. Most surveys report sampling error using the margin of error.

Non-response bias refers to the problems that emerge in samples when certain groups decline to participate in the poll. Depending on who declines, certain groups may be disproportionately represented.

LECTURE 2: Analyze with your students some of the challenges associated with political polling.

Wording: The way in which a question is worded can have a significant influence on the responses received in the survey. Questions that give only one option are more likely to be

answered by that option. For example, a question that asks, “Do you favor stricter gun control laws?” will receive more answers supporting gun control than the question, “Do you favor or oppose stricter gun control laws?”

Similarly, questions that evoke the name of a popular or unpopular official will also affect results. For example, a question asking, “Do you support or oppose President X’s proposal for Medicare reform?” will likely be influenced as much by the respondent’s view of the president as by their opinion about Medicare reform.

Surveys that provide a close-ended list of responses (as opposed to asking respondents to formulate their own answers) may also miss some spontaneous responses that fall outside the survey’s immediate focus.

Even a well-designed survey can be affected by the timing and intensity of the issue. Individuals may have an opinion but may not feel strongly

about it. Most surveys, for example, find that Americans tend to support stricter control over the sale and ownership of firearms. But they do not feel strongly about the issue and rarely cast their ballot based on the issue. By contrast, individuals who oppose such restrictions more often mobilize around the question. To capture these differences, pollsters will sometimes ask if respondents strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a particular proposal.

Timing can also matter. As events unfold, public opinion can shift.

LECTURE 3: Explore some of the primary concerns expressed by pollsters with respect to ensuring a random sample.

An increasing number of Americans screen their calls using caller ID or answering machines. This can make it difficult for pollsters to get responses.

Similarly, an increasing number of Americans are relying exclusively on cell phones, abandoning traditional landlines. Federal law limits the ability of pollsters to reach such users, who disproportionately tend to be young, affecting the validity of the sample.

Some polling now takes place on the Internet, which raises the problem of nonrandom samples.

LECTURE 4: Since students will constantly be exposed to polls, a good topic to flesh out in this chapter is polling technique and margin of error.

Margin of error is a statistical device that provides a numerical calculation for how close the results of a poll are to the truth. One hears a lot about scientific sampling. A margin of error should never be applied to any poll except a scientific one.

Scientific Polling: What makes a poll scientific? Almost every aspect of taking a poll involves matters that can be done scientifically or not. For example, this chapter highlights the science (or, actually, the lack of) of writing good questions so that the truth is revealed. A more fundamental question about polling in terms of whether or not it is scientific is how a sample is selected. From this point of view, a poll is scientific if every person in the population is given an equal chance of being selected in the sample. By population, pollsters do not mean all people in a country, state, etc., but that group of people about whom the pollster is trying to get information. Thus, a population could be the student body at a university.

Sample Size and Margin of Error: Social scientists, relying on statistical models, have developed a model for determining when the result of a poll is believable or true. The model states that if the results from a poll would be the same in 95 cases out of 100 then the results should be considered “true.” Most pollsters, relying on this standard, use sample sizes of about 1,200 people. This means that their margin of error is about plus or minus three percentage points. So, when Gallup reports that 41% of Americans approve of how President Obama is handling his job as president, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three, this means that almost half of Americans approve of the Obama presidency. One could be confident that Obama’s approval rating falls between a high of 44% and a low

of 38%. Either way, however, by that measure most Americans do not approve of the president.

Non-scientific Polling and Bias: A classic case of a poll lacking a scientific sample was the Literary Digest poll conducted during the 1936 presidential election. The Digest was a magazine that polled over 2 million people (compared to Gallup’s typical 1,200) and proceeded to predict that Alf Landon, the Republican nominee for President, would defeat Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee. Roosevelt defeated Landon in a landslide. Although the Digest’s sample size was one of the largest ever, it had erred in the selection of the sample. Because it polled from lists of people who had automobiles and phones, it got a biased sample dominated by well-to-do Republicans. Several caveats need to be added. First, in five cases out of 100, the results could be incorrect.

That is unlikely, but possible. Next, the results only apply to when the poll was taken.

Public opinion is not always stable. On some issues such as presidential approval, it changes frequently and in a dramatic fashion.

Polling has come a long way since the Literary Digest debacle. Not only have polling organizations fine-tuned the methods of polling, more information is given to voters about how polls were conducted. Twenty-five years ago if poll results were given on television or in a newspaper, there would have been no mention of the poll’s margin of error. Now, such reporting is routine. Still, there is one aspect of polling that gets ignored.

Subgroups and Polling: Often poll data includes not just the overall results of the poll (the number approving or disapproving of the president, for example) but will break the data into subgroups. Remember, though, that smaller sample

sizes generally lead to higher margins of error. Unfortunately, this problem is seldom highlighted when poll results are reported.

Assess the influence of political ideology on Americans’ political thinking and behavior.

LECTURE 1: A political ideology is a coherent set of values and beliefs about public policy. Differentiate between liberal and conservative ideologies in the United States in areas like foreign policy, economic policy, and social policy.

LECTURE 2: Examine the demographic patterns associated with political ideologies in the United States.

Overall, more Americans consistently choose the ideological label of conservative over liberal.

Some groups are more liberal than others, and want to see government do more; this includes people under the age of 30, minorities, and women.

Groups with political clout tend to be more conservative than groups whose members have often been shut out from the halls of political power.

Women are not a minority group, making up about 54 percent of the population, but they have nevertheless been politically and economically disadvantaged. Compared to men, women are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending, which conservatives typically advocate. This ideological difference between men and women has led to the gender gap, which refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates.

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LECTURE 3: Discuss the influence of political ideology on individual political choices.

Ideological thinking is not widespread in the American public, nor are people necessarily consistent in their attitudes.

The authors of the classic study The American Voter (Angus Campbell, et al.) first looked carefully at the ideological sophistication of the American electorate in the 1950s.

They divided the public into four groups, according to ideological sophistication. Ideologues: Only 12 percent could connect their opinions and

beliefs with broad policy positions taken by parties or candidates.

Group Benefits Voters: Forty-two percent of Americans thought of politics mainly by the groups they liked or disliked.

Nature of the Times Voters: The “handle on politics” of 24 percent of the population was limited to whether the times seemed good or bad to them.

No Issue Content Voters: Twenty-two percent of the voters were devoid of any ideological or issue content in their political evaluations; most simply voted routinely for a party or judged the candidates by their personalities.

If the same methods are used to update the analysis of The American Voter through the 1980s, one finds some increase in the proportion of ideologues, but the overall picture looks much the same.

For most people, the terms “liberal” and “conservative” are just not as important as they are for the political elite, such as politicians, activists, journalists, and the like.

Classify forms of political participation into two broad types.

LECTURE 1: Political participation encompasses the many activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Americans have many avenues of political participation open to them.

The United States has a participatory political culture, but only 55 percent of Americans voted in the 2004 presidential election, 39 percent turned out for the 2002 mid-term elections, and the numbers get even smaller for state and local elections.

Political scientists generally distinguish between two broad types of participation: conventional and unconventional.

Conventional participation includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government, such as voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, and running for office.

Unconventional participation includes activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence.

LECTURE 2: Protest is a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics, and protests today are often orchestrated to provide television cameras with vivid images. Explore the history of unconventional political participation in the United States.

Throughout American history, individuals and groups have sometimes used civil disobedience (consciously breaking a law that they think is unjust), illustrated in different eras by people like Henry David Thoreau in the 1840s and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Nonviolent civil disobedience was one of the most effective techniques of the civil rights movement in the American South. Rev. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a classic defense of civil disobedience.

Political participation can also be violent (as in some of the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s).

LECTURE 3: Examine the ways in which political participation differs across demographic groups in the United States.

In the United States, participation is a class-biased activity, with citizens of higher socioeconomic status participating more than others.

Minority groups like Hispanics and African Americans are below average in terms of political participation, although the participation differences between these groups and the national average has been declining.

When Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites of equal incomes and educations are compared, it is minorities who participate more in politics.

Analyze how public opinion about the scope of government guides political behavior.

LECTURE 1: Years and years of polling show that most Americans do not care about politics. Most have no idea how politics works, or know much about its component parts. So how can our democracy function with all of this apathy and ignorance?

What researchers have found is that Americans do follow issues, and know enough about them to make their voices heard. So even if they do not know enough about government, they do know about the issues that affect them!

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As such, how does polling come up with reliable answers for politicians? When we get a cross-section of America answering polls, the averages come forth and we get more stable and consistent results. This is called our “collective public opinion.” Even though many of us are apathetic, misinformed or extremely irrational, eventually the averages will create a more logical response to the issue.

Political Ideology: A system of interrelated and coherently organized political beliefs and attitudes.

Collective Public Opinion: The political attitudes of the public as a whole, expressed as averages, percentages, or other summaries of many individuals’ opinions.

Rational Public: The notion that collective public opinion is rational in the sense that it is generally stable and consistent, and that when it changes, it does so as an understandable response to events, changing circumstances, and to new information.

LECTURE 2: While most Americans are not politically engaged on a day-to-day basis, party affiliation can help foster political engagement by simplifying political judgments.

Party identification is often used as a cue by voters in selecting candidates. While they may not follow every candidate and political issue in a campaign, they know that in general they tend to agree more closely with one party over another. On Election Day, they can simply vote along party lines.

This dynamic can also be seen in polling data. Presidential approval ratings, for example, usually track very closely with party affiliation. On the whole, registered Democrats tend to view Democratic presidents more favorably, while registered Republicans tend to view Republican presidents more favorably.

LECTURE 3: Point out the fundamental questions about the role of public opinion in making public policy. How much attention should leaders pay to public opinion, given that it is often not informed opinion?

Elitism argues that leaders should shape opinion, rather than being led by it. Note that most of the Founders were elitists, and the structure of the American political system reflects their concerns about the excessive power of the masses in a democratic political system.

Pluralism argues that policy based on informed public opinion adds legitimacy to a democratic system. Most Americans today are likely pluralists, believing that our political leaders should generally abide by the will of the masses.

LECTURE 4: Describe for your students the fundamental elements of public opinion formation.

Most people do not have perfectly formed attitudes about specific public policy questions. Instead, people tend to have a mix of concerns that are more or less reflected in public opinion.

Individuals can also hold complex, even contradictory, opinions. They might believe, for example, that Second Amendment right to bear arms protections are an important liberty for all Americans. At the same time, though, they might also believe that some limitations on gun ownership are warranted. Similarly, an individual might support the right to abortion in general but also support specific restrictions on the practice.

They might also have incomplete or not-fully-formed opinions on specific questions. This is not the same, though, as suggesting that they have no opinion.

LECTURE 5: Contrast American public opinion and political knowledge with that of other democracies around the world.

Americans are proud. Compared to other countries, most Americans are proud to be Americans (90%). Only 43% of British, 33% of French, and 23% of Germans are proud of their countries!

At the same time, Americans are becoming more pessimistic about their government. It is hard to be happy when you are pessimistic about your government. Only 20% currently trust government to do the right thing. Congress used to have a high approval rating 50 years ago,

but today only 10% approve of how Congress is doing its job. Presidential approval varies by the President. Both President

Bushes had unusually high and low approval ratings. President George H.W. Bush had the highest approval rating on record, until his son broke into the low 90% approval rating in 2001, right after 9/11. At the same time, President George W. Bush ended with one of the lowest approval ratings, around 28%. Despite his personal failures and impeachment proceeding, President Clinton left office with one of the highest approval ratings of any second term president, 60%.

Class Activities

CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Start by having your students brainstorm the fundamental values shared by all Americans. It may take some time for them to get started, but once they do, they can generally develop a fairly comprehensive list. Examples might include freedom, liberty, tolerance, individualism, etc. This is often referred to as the American creed.

Once you have a fairly well-developed list, ask your students to identify contradictions within the list. For example, the individualism and laissez-faire attitudes frequently expressed as part of the creed are sometimes at odds with the notion of egalitarianism and populism.

Then ask them to consider how, even when we have agreement on the general elements of the creed, we can support conflicting policy choices. For example, while Americans generally support individual

liberty, we sometimes support policies that focus on different elements of liberty. When President Obama’s health care reform law required employers to provide coverage for birth control, for example, both proponents and defenders of the law resorted to claims about liberty. Opponents of the law asserted that it violated the religious freedom of particular employers to not support birth control. Supporters of the law asserted that employers should not be able to dictate the religious choices of their employees. Both sides claimed recourse to liberty, but the same claims of liberty led to different policy choices.

This discussion item sets out the complexities within the American creed.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Have students define both public opinion and political socialization. Then ask them to discuss the following question: What are the factors that influence an individual’s political socialization and help contribute to a person’s political opinions?

You may want to begin this exercise as a short, in-class writing assignment, asking each student to list the most important influences (political socialization) in terms of shaping political opinions.

Then ask them to discuss the specific agents of socialization, and how their roles change over time. For example, it is often noted that the influence of family tends to be strongest at younger ages, while peer groups become more important as we move into our teenage years.

As part of this discussion, you may also want to ask your students to reflect on specific agents of socialization. Have them explain how specific agents influence an individual’s level of political knowledge, help form personal political opinions and determine what types of political issues they might be interested in.

This activity explores the process of political socialization and the relationship between political socialization, political ideology, and public opinion.

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to bring in examples of recent public opinion polls. For each, discuss the sampling technique, the margin of error, and other relevant information. Then have a more general discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of providing polling data on public opinion.

This activity exposes students to the key terms and practices associated with survey research and public opinion polling.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The concept of political socialization is difficult for students to grasp without examples and discussion. Ask students to think about the role of political symbols in society. In particular, ask them to list these symbols and where they are most often seen (for example, the flag, the Constitution, Uncle Sam, etc.).

Discuss the Pledge of Allegiance as a socializing agent for young children as well as the activities of Fourth of July celebrations,

which are often used to reinforce public values of nationalism, patriotism, and reverence for the Constitution.

Once they have listed a variety of these symbols, ask them to explain why the national anthem is sung at sporting events. Ask how many know all of the words, how many have stood but did not sing, and how many did not sing or stand while the national anthem was being sung.

A follow-up exercise may include a short essay debating whether it is more appropriate to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem at sporting events, given that most people can say the pledge without hesitation, but have trouble singing the national anthem.

This exercise provides an unintimidating yet thoughtful way of emphasizing how political socialization has been used to instill principles, values, and beliefs in citizens.

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Stage a debate in class. One side should argue that public opinion polling is inherently problematic and should not be used by government or politicians. The other side should argue that polling is a valid way to determine the will of the people. Each side should do research to flesh out its arguments.

This activity explores the role of public opinion polling on political decision making.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Have students think about a controversial, polarizing political issue.

Ask them to devise two opinion poll questions about their issue. One question should be designed to elicit a positive response toward (or response in support of) the policy; the other should

be designed to elicit a negative response. Have the students write both of their questions on an index card.

Choose a few cards at random to construct a survey that will be administered during the next class period.

Compile survey results and present them to the students, pointing out any inconsistencies or discrepancies in opinions on any given issue.

For an alternative exercise addressing similar problems in polling research, try the following: Divide the class into small groups. Give the entire class a series of topics and have each group write two good survey questions and two bad ones for each topic. Have the class share the results and discuss why certain questions are good and others are bad.

This hands-on activity helps students understand the process of survey design and gets them thinking about how survey design can influence polling data.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: While the number of Latinos voting in national elections is rapidly increasing, voting statistics show that, overall, Hispanics or Latinos remain among the least politically active groups in the United States.

Divide your class into groups, with each group given an assignment to collect data on questions related to why this has occurred. For example, one group could compare incomes and occupations with other minorities; another group could look at the impact of illegal immigration and language; and another could contrast the successes of African American interest groups with Hispanic groups.

Each group should select one person to make a brief presentation to the entire class, summarizing the group’s findings.

This data-based activity encourages students to consider the demographic characteristics that influence political participation in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Public opinion surveys consistently reveal an astounding lack of public knowledge about politics.

Give students a pop quiz on several major political issues and have them grade their own quiz.

Alternatively, administer a subset of questions from the exam that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services gives to immigrants applying for citizenship.

Briefly discuss their performance, and possible reasons for it. Then ask your students to discuss whether the American

political system is affected by such a low level of public information.

This activity focuses on the importance of an informed electorate and the relationship between political knowledge and political participation in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: As a class discussion, ask your students to think about how they would gather a representative sample of your college or university. What groups would have to be represented, and in what proportions? Be sure to ask them to explain their position based on their knowledge of surveying techniques developed from this chapter.

This activity develops an understanding of what constitutes good public opinion and polling methodology.

CLASS ACTIVITY 10: Screen “The Basics” video for your class. The video examines how we know what opinions the public holds, and how they come by those opinions. The video also briefly discusses the process of political

socialization and notes that Americans aren’t always well-informed about government and policies.

After screening the video, break your class into at least three smaller groups. Ask each group to develop a public opinion survey about a contemporary issue or campaign of your choice. Then secretly ask one group to develop a survey that is more likely to yield a particular response, and secretly ask another group to develop a survey more likely to yield the opposite response. For example, if you were developing a voter intent survey, you might ask one group to develop a survey to be more favorable to Democrats and another to Republicans.

Once each group has developed their survey, ask them to present their survey instruments and methodology to the class. See if the class finds the problems with the two biased surveys.

This makes an effective way to bring in questions of survey design, push polling, and other issues of a similar nature.

Research Activities

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Most people’s opinions are affected by what can be called a “formative political event.” For some people, this event was the death of Princess Di. For others, it was the Persian Gulf War, and for still others it was the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Have students think about their “formative political event” or first political memory.

Have them write a paper or discuss: How did that event shape your political ideas and worldview? What about your parents and grandparents? Ask them what major events affected their political perceptions.

You could also provide time in class for students to compare their events with those of their classmates.

As an alternative assignment, consider having students write a paper based on their own political ideology and opinions. Ask them to consider how their opinions were formed. Consider those who have influenced these opinions and political views. Is the text correct in asserting what the dominant factors of political socialization are? Again, have students compare their experiences with those of their classmates.

This activity explores the nature of political socialization and the role of formative events in that process.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Visit the Gallup Trends website (http://www.gallup.com/poll/trends.aspx) or Real Clear Polls (http://www.pollingreport.com/). On both sites, you will find recent polling data collected across a number of issue areas. The interesting thing about these data, though, is that it provides responses for the same question over an extended period of time, sometimes dating back to the 1970s.

Pick an issue from either site. In a short paper, describe the general trend noted in the poll. Has public opinion remained relatively stable over time? Has it shifted dramatically in one direction or another?

What do you think is driving the trend’s relative stability or fluctuation?

How does the trend relate to the idea of political socialization in the United States?

This activity requires students to examine polling data, identify trends, and explain the reasons for patterns they note.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Find recent opinion polls taken in your state, and compare public opinion with votes by your U.S. senators and

congressional representatives. In a short paper, describe the similarities and differences you note, and explain the reasons for them.

This activity requires students to reflect on the influence of public opinion on the decisions of members of Congress.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have students watch two weeks of TV news and pay attention to newspapers during the same timeframe. Have them write a paper analyzing the ways in which the media use polls. What are the implications of their findings?

As an alternative assignment, particularly during election season, have students look at campaign and related websites to determine how politicians and the media use polls. Have them write a short paper or hold a class discussion on the implications of these uses.

In either case, be sure students discuss the ways we can assess a poll’s reliability and validity.

This activity helps students explore how the media uses polls.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students find glaring examples of “bad polls” using the Internet. Then have them provide a short description of the poll and an analysis of what made the poll “bad” in a written paper or as a class discussion item.

This activity helps students identify and understand the features of good survey design and public opinion polling methodology.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Have students explore ideas about socialization found on the Web. They can focus on the concept itself or on the ways different disciplines study it. If you choose the latter, ask students to find examples of studies on socialization from fields like anthropology, sociology,

education, and political science. Have them discuss the similarities and differences they find.

This activity exposes students to a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the process of political socialization.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have your students read Robert Putnam’s classic text Bowling Alone (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001). Putnam contends that Americans are increasingly isolated from one another, creating fundamental problems for American democracy. Once they have read the text, ask your students to evaluate Putnam’s thesis in light of their understanding of public opinion. Is Putnam correct in his conclusions? Why or why not?

This activity examines the changing nature of political community and the importance of political socialization on democratic politics in the United States.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Some countries forbid the use of polls in the last few weeks of an election campaign. In the United States, this is not the case.

Assign students different country groups and have them research rules about polling during elections in each country.

In a short paper, have them consider the merits of different ways of regulating polling during elections. Ask them to consider the tradeoff between free speech and a free press and meaningful, non-manipulated democracy.

Consider having them share their findings with the class, either in class presentations or through forum posts in the course LMS.

This activity exposes students to the diversity of electoral rules as they relate to public opinion surveying in democracies around the world.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Simulation: “You Are a Polling Consultant.” In a country the size of the United States, public opinion polling is essential if representatives are to understand how their constituency feels about important issues. In the “You Are a Polling Consultant” simulation in MyPoliSciLab, you will act as a polling consultant for a member of Congress and learn how to conduct accurate and reliable polls.

Have your students complete the simulation and explore the process of constructing and conducting effective and accurate polls.

Then have them complete the associated quiz in MyPoliSciLab. As an alternative short writing assignment, ask your students to

complete a short response paper in which they discuss the themes raised in the simulation as they relate to the material covered in lecture and the chapter.

This activity helps students understand the importance of polling and the process by which accurate and reliable polls are developed.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 10: What do young people think about politics today? Use the infographic from the textbook as the basis for a discussion around the following questions:

President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign benefitted from strong support from younger voters. Yet these same voters often express cynicism about the political environment in the United States.

What do the survey results presented in the infographic suggest about the political attitudes of young Americans? Do young Americans generally believe they can affect what the government does? Do they believe government regulations are good for society? Why?

What other questions might you ask to understand perspectives on political efficacy?

This discussion item helps to develop data literacy and encourages students to think about the idea of political efficacy, particularly as perceived by younger Americans.

Participation Activities

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: As a class, make a survey of the voting and political participation patterns on campus. Consider addressing the following questions:

How many students are registered to vote? How many students voted in the last election? What is the political profile of the campus in terms of party

identification? How does this pattern of party affiliation compare with national

patterns? Is the number of students who identify with the “independent”

status greater than the number of students who identify with the Democratic or Republican parties?

This activity gives students an opportunity to construct a public opinion survey and to explore factors that affect political affiliation and participation.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students write a personal political biography. In their biography, ask them to reflect on the following questions:

What political views and party affiliations do you hold? Where did those views and affiliations come from?

How influential was your family? Did your family express many political opinions or even discuss their political views?

What influence does your peer group have on your opinion? Has that influence changed over time? How?

What are your earliest memories of political or national events? What other factors have shaped your political beliefs?

This activity provides an opportunity for students to reflect on the source of their political values and beliefs and to think about the process of political socialization in their own lives.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to read the local or college/university newspaper and identify any methodological errors in their reporting of polling data. Assign different students different dates to read the paper. If they find an error, have them write a letter to the editor explaining the mistake.

This activity requires students to apply their knowledge of proper polling techniques to evaluate the media’s use of statistics.

Suggested Readings

READING 1: Theda Skocpol and Morris P. Fiorina, eds. (1999). Civic Engagement in American Democracy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Skocpol and Fiorina, two of the leading scholars of political culture and participation, examine the way in which particular patterns of civil engagement emerge in the United States.

READING 2: Kevin Mattson (2003). Engaging Youth: Combating the Apathy of Young Americans Toward Politics. New York: Century Foundation Press. Mattson provides an excellent overview of the low levels of political participation among young Americans. He contends that younger Americans are less likely to participate in politics and are more likely to exhibit higher

levels of cynicism and political disaffection. Efforts to reverse these trends, he contends, are unlikely to succeed.

READING 3: A number of recent texts deal with the question of political engagement, providing a detailed discussion of increasing levels of political apathy and outlining mechanisms to overcome it.

Cliff Zukin, et al. (2006). A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York: Oxford University Press.

Grant Reeher, Steve Davis, and Larry Elin (2004). Click On Democracy: The Internet’s Power To Change Political Apathy Into Civic Action. Boulder: Westview Press.

J. Eric Wilson and R. Justen Collins (2011). We Surround Them: Our Journey from Apathy to Action. Washington, DC: Georgetown Grassroots Publications.

Don Quigg (2009). Runaway Debt, Flat Taxes & Voter Apathy. Denver: Outskirts Press.

READING 4: Seth Kahn and JongHwa Lee, eds. (2010). Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement. London: Routledge. Explores the intersection between popular rhetoric and political participation through a series of comparative case studies from around the world.

READING 5: J. Celeste Lay (2012). A Midwestern Mosaic: Immigration and Political Socialization in Rural America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. An excellent example of contemporary work being done in the area of political socialization. Lay’s study focuses on the challenges of increasing immigration from Latin American and Southeast Asia on Iowa’s political culture.

READING 6: Robert Erickson and Kent Tedin (2005). American Public Opinion: Its Origins, Content, and Impact. New York: Longman. Erickson and Tedin’s introductory text provides a wide range of information on measuring and analyzing public opinion in the United States.

READING 7: Morris Fiorina (2006). Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York: Longman. Fiorina’s powerful text argues that the claims of a culture war are vastly overstated, and that, to quote the words of President Barack Obama, “We are not as divided as our politics suggest.”

READING 8: Several outstanding texts examine the nature and method of political polling. See, for example:

Herbert Asher (2011). Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know, 8th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Kirby Goidel, ed. (2011). Political Polling in the Digital Age: The Challenge of Measuring and Understanding Public Opinion. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.

Barbara A. Bardes and Robert Oldendick (2012). Public Opinion: Measuring the American Mind, 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Samuel J. Best and Brian S. Krveger (2012). Exit Polls: Surveying the American Electorate. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Paul M. Sniderman and Benjamin Highton, eds. (2011). Facing the Challenge of Democracy: Explorations in the Analysis of Public Opinion and Political Participation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Herbert Weisberg, Jon Krosnick, and Bruce Bowen (1996). An Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

John Zaller (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.

READING 9: The American Association for Public Opinion Research (http://www.aapor.org) is the professional association for public opinion and survey researchers.

READING 10: The journal Politics, Culture and Socialization (http://www.budrich-journals.de/index.php/pcs), published by the International Political Science Association, offers a comparative focus on political socialization.

READING 11: Several journals focus on public opinion research. Among the most prominent are:

Public Opinion Quarterly (http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/) Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties

(www.tandfonline.com/toc/fbep20/current) International Journal of Public Opinion Research (

http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/)

READING 12: The White House Kids Homepage (www.whitehouse.gov/kids) and the Congress for Kids Website (www.congressforkids.net) both provide outstanding examples of political socialization in the United States.

READING 13: The major polling organizations all have a strong online presence, with websites that contain recent and historical poll results, analyses, and news briefings. These include:

The Gallup Organization (www.gallup.com) The Pew Research Center (http://pewresearch.org/) Zogby International (http://www.zogby.com) Rasmussen Reports (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/) Quinnipiac University Polling Institute

(http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x271.xml)

READING 14: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/) is located at the University of Connecticut and is the largest library of public opinion data in the world. The Center’s mission focuses on data preservation and access, education and research.

READING 15: The Social Science Data Collection (http://libraries.ucsd.edu/ssds/) lists articles and books about polling, published public opinion polls, and raw polling data.

READING 16: The General Social Survey (http://www3.norc.org/GSS+Website) website of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) offers access to their annual surveys of American attitudes and opinions.

READING 17: The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) (www.civicyouth.org) conducts research on the political engagement patterns of young Americans.

READING 18: Bob Roberts (1992). Comedy about a Senate candidate who runs a campaign without issues, appealing only to peoples’ feelings.

READING 19: Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians and the Media Misrepresent the Public (2001). Media Education Foundation. An examination of how polling data is used by the media to construct, as well as report, public opinion.

READING 20: Magic Town (1947). Dir. William Wellman. Robert Risken Productions. An amusing movie starring James Stewart about a pollster who finds a town that perfectly mirrors the entire nation. A good illustration of the Hawthorne Effect.