Chapter Focus
Chapter 5: Public Opinion

The purpose of this chapter is to explore what we mean by public opinion and to ask what sorts of effects public opinion has on our supposedly democratic form of government. After reading and reviewing the material in this chapter, you should be able to do each of the following:

  1. List the sources of our political attitudes, and indicate which are the most important sources. Assess the influence of various religious traditions on political attitudes.
  2. Explain why there is no single cleavage between liberals and conservatives in this country and why there are crosscutting cleavages. Explain the significance of these facts. Assess the significance of race in explaining political attitudes.
  3. Define political ideology and state why most Americans do not think ideologically. Summarize the liberal positions on the economy, civil rights, and political conduct. Describe the major policy packages in the Democratic party, and indicate which groups in the Democratic coalition can be identified with each package.
  4. Identify which elite groups have become liberal, and compare their current attitudes with the past political preferences of these groups. Discuss the "new class" theory as an explanation for changes in attitudes. Analyze why these changes are causing strain in the political party system.

Study Outline
Chapter 5: Public Opinion

  1. Introduction
  2. Lincoln and the Gettysburg address "of the people, by the people, for the people."
  3. Yet the federal government's budget is not balanced
  4. Yet the people have opposed busing
  5. Yet the ERA was not ratified
  6. Yet most Americans opposed Clinton's impeachment
  7. Yet most Americans favor term limits for Congress
  8. Why government policy and public opinion may appear to be at odds
  9. Government not intended to do "what the people want"
  10. Framers of Constitution aimed for substantive goals
  11. Popular rule was only one of several means toward these goals.
  12. Large nations feature many "publics" with many "opinions."
  13. Framers hoped no single opinion would dominate
  14. Reasonable policies can command support of many factions
  15. Limits on effectiveness of opinion polling; difficult to know public opinion
  16. Government may give more weight to political elites who may think differently
  17. What is Public Opinion?
  18. Influences and limitations
  19. Public ignorance: Monetary Control Bill ruse, poor name recognition of leaders
  20. Importance of wording of questions, affects answers
  21. Questions may focus one side of an issue at the expense of another (benefits / costs)
  22. Instability of public opinion
  23. Public has more important things to think about; need clear-cut political choices
  24. Specific attitudes less important than political culture
  25. The origins of political attitudes
  26. The role of the family
  27. Child absorbs party identification of family but becomes more independent with age
  28. Much continuity between generations
  29. Declining ability to pass on identification
  30. Younger voters exhibit less partisanship; more likely to be independent
  31. Meaning of partisanship unclear in most families; less influence on policy preferences
  32. Few families pass on clear ideologies
  33. Religion
  34. Religious traditions affect families
  35. Catholic families somewhat more liberal
  36. Protestant families more conservative
  37. Jewish families decidedly more liberal
  38. Two theories on differences
  39. Social status of religious group
  40. Content of religion's tradition
  41. The gender gap
  42. A "problem" that has existed for a long time for both parties
  43. Men and women both identified with the Democratic Party at about the same levels in the 1950s
  44. By the 1990's men identified more with the Republican party while women continued to support the Democrats at earlier levels
  45. Possible explanations for the "gap"
  46. Attitudes about size of government, gun control, spending programs for the poor, and gay rights
  47. The conservative policy positions of men are increasingly matched by their party loyalty
  48. Presence of Democratic female candidates may also have an impact
  49. Schooling and information
  50. College education has liberalizing effect; longer in college, more liberal
  51. Effect extends beyond end of college
  52. Cause of this liberalization?
  53. Personal traits: temperament, family, intelligence
  54. Exposure to information on politics
  55. Liberalism of professors
  56. Effect growing as more go to college
  57. Increasing conservatism since 1960s?
  58. Yes (legalizing marijuana)
  59. No (school busing)
  60. Cleavages in public opinion
  61. Social class: less important in United States than in Europe
  62. More important in 1950s on unemployment, education, housing programs
  63. Less important in 1960s on poverty, health insurance, Vietnam, jobs
  64. Why the change?
  65. Education: occupation depends more on schooling
  66. Noneconomic issues now define liberal and conservative
  67. Race and ethnicity
  68. Social class becoming less clear-cut source of political cleavage
  69. Impact of race and ethnicity is less clear
  70. Some clear difference in opinion (party identification, O.J. Simpson, criminal justice system, affirmative action)
  71. Some similarities (quotas, getting tough on crime, abortion, etc.)
  72. Evidence that the gap in opinions is narrowing
  73. Further complication: gaps between the opinions of younger and older blacks
  74. Big opinion gap between black leaders and black people generally
  75. Still differences of opinions between blacks and whites on social issues; opinions similar on others
  76. Evidence that black-white differences are narrowing
  77. Few studies of the opinions of over 30 million Latinos
  78. California study of Latinos and Asian Americans
  79. Latinos identified themselves as Democrats / Asian Americans identified themselves as Republicans
  80. Latinos were somewhat more liberal than Anglo whites and Asian Americans, but less liberal than blacks
  81. Diversity within ethnic groups and limitations of such studies
  82. Region
  83. Southerners more conservative than northerners on military and civil rights issues but difference fading overall
  84. Southern lifestyle different
  85. Lessening attachment to Democratic party
  86. Political ideology
  87. Consistent attitudes
  88. Ideology: patterned set of political beliefs about who ought to rule, their principles and policies
  89. Most citizens display little ideology; moderates dominate
  90. Yet most citizens may have strong political predispositions
  91. "Consistency" criterion somewhat arbitrary
  92. Some believe ideology increased in 1960s
  93. Others argue that poll questions were merely worded differently in 1960s
  94. What do liberalism and conservatism mean?
  95. Liberal and conservative labels have complex history
  96. Europe during French Revolution: conservative = church, state authority
  97. Roosevelt and New Deal: activism = liberalism
  98. Conservative reaction to activism (Goldwater): free market, states' rights, economic choice
  99. Today's imprecise and changing meanings
  100. Various categories
  101. Three useful categories emerge from studies
  102. Economic policy: liberals favor jobs for all, subsidized medical care and education, taxation of rich
  103. Civil rights: liberals prefer desegregation, equal opportunity, etc.
  104. Public and political conduct: liberals tolerant of demonstrations, favor legalization of marijuana, and so on
  105. Analyzing consistency: people can mix categories
  106. Pure liberals: liberal on both economic and personal conduct issues
  107. Pure conservatives: conservative on both economic and personal conduct issues
  108. Libertarians: conservative on economic issues, liberal on personal conduct issues
  109. Populists: liberal on economic issues, conservative on personal conduct issues
  110. Political elites
  111. Definition: those who have a disproportionate amount of some valued resource
  112. Elites, or activists, display greater ideological consistency
  113. More information than most people
  114. Peers reinforce consistency and greater difference of opinion than one finds among average voters
  115. Is there a "new class"?
  116. Definition: those who are advantaged by the power, resources, and growth of government (not business)
  117. Two explanations of well-off individuals who are liberals
  118. Their direct benefits from government
  119. Liberal ideology infusing postgraduate education
  120. Traditional middle class: four years of college, suburban, church affiliated, pro-business, conservative on social issues, Republican
  121. Liberal middle class: postgraduate education, urban, critical of business, liberal on social issues, Democratic
  122. Emergence of new class creates strain in Democratic party
  123. Political elites, public opinion, and public policy
  124. Elites influence public opinion in three ways
  125. Raise and form political issues
  126. State norms by which to settle issues, defining policy options
  127. Elite views shape mass views
  128. Limits to elite influence on the public
  129. Elites do not define problems
  130. Many elites exist; hence many elite opinions