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Public Opinion and Political Action
Chapter 6 Summary
I. The American People (174-180)
Introduction
The study of public opinion aims to understand the distribution of the population’s belief about
politics and policy issues. Demography is the science of human populations. The most valuable
tool for understanding demographic changes in America is the census, which is an actual
enumeration of the population required by the Constitution to be taken every ten years.
The Immigrant Society
All Americans, except Native Americans, are descended from immigrants or are immigrants
themselves. Recently, illegal immigrants have outnumbered legal immigrants. There have been
three great waves of immigration: northwestern Europeans before the Civil War, southern and
eastern Europeans after the Civil War, and Hispanics and Asians after World War II. Immigrants
bring with them their aspirations and political beliefs.
The American Melting Pot
The United States is a melting pot of cultures, ideas, and peoples. The United States will soon
become a minority majority society where minority groups outnumber the white Europeans. Until
recently, African Americans were the largest minority group. Although suffering from economic
disadvantage, African Americans have gained in political power. Hispanics now outnumber
African Americans. The Simpson-Mazzoli Act requires that employers document the citizenship of
their employees to discourage the employment of illegal immigrants, a particular concern to the
Hispanic community. Most Asians immigrating to the United States have primarily been
professional workers looking for greater opportunity. Asian Americans have often been
considered high achievers. Native Americans are the worst off of all minority groups in the United
States. They are the least healthy, poorest, and least educated of all minority groups. Americans
live in a multicultural and multilingual society, but share a common political culture—an overall set
of values widely shared within a society.
The Regional Shift
Before 1940 the most populous states have been concentrated north of the Mason-Dixon Line
and east of the Mississippi River. Since then much of the population growth has been centered in
the West and South. Reapportionment occurs after every census when the 435 seats in the
House of Representatives are reallocated to the states based on population changes. Thus
California has gained seats over the years, while New York has lost seats.
The Graying of America
The fastest growing age group in America is composed of citizens over sixty-five. By the year
2020 there will be just two working Americans for every person over the age of sixty-five. These
statistics have made the Social Security system the second most costly public policy.
II. How Americans Learn About Politics: Political Socialization (180-184)
A. The Process of Political Socialization
Political socialization is “the process through which an individual acquires his or her particular
political orientations—his or her knowledge, feelings, and evaluations regarding his or her political
world.” Formal political learning usually takes place in schools. Informal learning is more
important and is usually accidental. The role of the family in political socialization is crucial
because of the time and emotional commitments of the family. Most people vote the way their
parents did. The mass media has considerable influence on political socialization, although young
adults are less likely to watch television news and read newspapers. Governments throughout the
world use schools to attempt to raise children committed to the basic values of the system.
Education has become a very important public policy issue to most people.
B. Political Learning Over a Lifetime
Political learning is a lifelong activity. Political participation and party identification tends to
increase with age.
III. Measuring Public Opinion and Political Information (184-192)
A. How Polls are Conducted
Public opinion polling, first developed by George Gallup, is a sophisticated technology for
measuring public opinion. Polls rely on a sample of the population—a relatively small proportion
of people who are chosen as representative of the whole. The key to accuracy of polls is random
sampling, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being
selected. Sampling error, which depends on the size of the sample, is the level of confidence that
the sample represents the total population. A good sampling error based on a sample of 1500 to
2000 people is plus or minus 3 percent. Most polling is now done on the telephone with samples
selected through random digit dialing.
B. The Role of Polls in American Democracy
Polls help politicians detect public preferences and thus can be a tool for democracy. Critics of
polling think it makes politicians more concerned with following than leading. Polls can also distort
the election process. They are often accused of creating a bandwagon effect. The media often
pays more attention to polls than the issues. The most criticized poll is the election-day exit poll,
which often predicts the winner before all the polls are closed. This was particularly a problem in
the close election Florida in 2000. Another problem with polls is that by altering the wording of a
question, pollsters can get pretty much the results they want. Therefore, it is important to be an
informed consumer of polls to recognize whether they are fair and unbiased.
C. What Polls Reveal About Americans’ Political Information
If public opinion analysts are agreed about anything, it is that the level of public knowledge about
politics is dismally low. Americans are not very well informed about politics and cannot explain
their opinion on important issues. Increased levels of education have not raised public knowledge
about politics. According to Russell Neumann, the “paradox of mass politics” is that it works as
well as it does given the discomforting lack of public knowledge about politics. This may be
because people are clear about what basic values they want upheld even if they do not know the
particulars of politics.
D. The Decline of Trust in Government
Over the last forty years Americans have become increasingly dissatisfied with government.
Events such as the Vietnam War, Watergate, and economic troupes shook people’s confidence in
the federal government. When people feel that government is not working according to their
values, public opinion becomes more important.
IV. What Americans Value: Political Ideologies (192-196)
Who are the Liberals and Conservatives?
Political ideology is a coherent set of values and beliefs about public policy. More Americans
consistently choose the ideological label of conservative over liberal. Liberals generally like the
government to do more. Groups with political clout tend to be more conservative than groups
whose members have often been shut out from the halls of political power. Ideological differences
between men and women have led to the gender gap. Women are more likely to support
Democratic candidates. The role of religion in influencing political ideology has changed greatly in
recent years.
A. Do People Think in Ideological Terms?
The classic 1950s study, The American Voter discovered that Americans seem to care little about
the differences between liberal and conservative politics. Most scholars believe that this has
changed very little today. For most people the terms liberal and conservative are not as important
as they are for the political elite. We have not seen major ideological shifts in the American
population in recent years.
B. Has There Been a Turn toward Conservatism?
Ronald Reagan was clearly the most conservative president since the New Deal. However,
analysts tend to conclude that his presidency did not represent a conservative shift in the
population. Public opinion polls tend to show that people liked Reagan as a person, but did not
necessarily agree with his policies. Nature of the times voters tend to be the swing voters rather
than major ideological shifts.
V. How Americans Participate in Politics (196-200)
A. Introduction
Americans have many avenues of participation open to them. Political participation consists of the
activities citizens use to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The
United States is a participatory culture; however, voter turnout tends to be very low.
B. Conventional Participation
Conventional participation includes the widely accepted modes of influencing government: voting,
persuading, running for office, and so on. Unconventional participation includes activities that are
often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience, and violence. The number of Americans
who participate in politics daily is very low. Voting is the only activity that a majority of Americans
engage in. Whereas voting is declining, other conventional activities have increased in recent
years.
C. Protest as Participation
Protest is a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and
unconventional tactics. Media coverage is important to the success of protest. The use of civil
disobedience, consciously breaking a law though to be unjust, has been common throughout
American history. Violence has also been a means of pressuring the government to change its
policies throughout American history.
D. Class, Inequality, and Participation
Participation is unequal in American political life. Those who are advantaged in socioeconomic
terms (higher education, income, and occupation) are more likely to be politically active. Those
with poor education and income levels and minority groups tend to participate less. However,
when African Americans, Hispanics, and whites of equal incomes and education are compared,
the minorities tend to participate more. Those who participate are easy to listen to;
nonparticipants are easy to ignore.
VI. Understanding Public Opinion and Political Action (201-202)
A. Public Attitudes Toward the Scope of Government
By 1980, 50 percent of the population thought the government was getting too powerful.
However, for much of the population questions about the scope of government have consistently
elicited no opinion. The public is not as concerned with political issues as would be ideal in a
democratic society. They are also inconsistent. While more people think the government is too
active, a plurality has consistently called for more spending on key social programs.
B. Democracy, Public Opinion, and Political Action
American democracy is representative, not direct. Americans often take for granted their
opportunity to replace their leaders. If the public’s task is to choose who is to lead, it must be
asked whether it can do so wisely given the public’s lack of political and policy knowledge.
However, even if people only vote according to the nature of the times, their voices are clearly
being heard—holding public officials accountable for their actions.