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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and
Political Action
• The American People
• How Americans Learn About Politics:
Political Socialization
• Measuring Public Opinion and Political
Information
• What Americans Value: Political
Ideologies
• How Americans Participate in Politics
• Understanding Public Opinion and
Political Action
• Summary
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
The American People
LO 6.1
• The Immigrant Society
• United States is a nation of immigrants.
• Three waves of immigration into the United
States are mainly (1) Northwestern
Europeans prior to late 19th Century, (2)
Southern and eastern Europeans in late
19th and early 20th centuries, and (3)
Hispanics and Asians in late 20th century.
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The American People
LO 6.1
• The American Melting Pot
• The most valuable tool for understanding
demographic changes in America is the
census
• Melting pot is the mixing of cultures, ideas, and
peoples that has changed the American nation.
• Minority majority is the emergence of a nonCaucasian majority.
• Political culture is an overall set of values
widely shared within a society.
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LO 6.1
The American People
• Americans live in a multicultural and
multilingual society that is becoming more
diverse all the time.
• Minority groups have assimilated many
basic American values, such as the
principle of equality.
• Until recently, the largest minority group in
the country has been the African-American
population.
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LO 6.1
The American People
• Asians has been driven by a new class of professional
workers looking for greater opportunity.
• By far the worst off minority group is the one
indigenous minority, known today as Native Americans.
• The 2000 Census reported that for the first time the
Hispanic population outnumbered the African-American
population.
• Unlike Hispanics, who have come to America to escape
poverty, the recent influx
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LO 6.1
The American People
• The Regional Shift
• Much of America’s population growth
since World War II has been centered in
the West and South.
• Reapportionment is the process of
reallocating seats in the House of
Representatives every 10 years on the
basis of the results of the census.
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LO 6.1
The American People
• The Graying of America
• Aging population – Implications for Social
Security.
• Social Security is a pay as-you-go system,
which means that today’s workers pay the
benefits for today’s retirees.
• By 2040, there will be only about two
workers per retiree.
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The Graying of America
• The fastest growing age group in America
is composed of citizens over age 65:
people are living longer as a result of
medical advances, and the birth rate has
dropped.
• The Social Security system is second only
to national defense as America’s most
costly public policy; the growing demands
to care for the elderly will almost certainly
become more acute in the decades ahead.
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LO 6.2
How Americans Learn About
Politics: Political Socialization
• The Process of Political Socialization
• The Family – Parents give their children
political attitudes.
• The Mass Media – TV gives people
information about politics.
• School – Schools socialize the youth into
political culture.
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LO 6.2
How Americans Learn About
Politics: Political Socialization
• Political Learning over a Lifetime
• Aging increases political participation and
strength of party attachment.
• Political behavior is to some degree a
learned behavior.
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LO 6.3
Measuring Public Opinion and
Political Information
• How Polls Are Conducted
• Sample – People in survey to be
representative of the whole.
• Random Sampling – People should get
equal probability of being selected for the
sample.
• Sampling Error – Confidence in public
opinion poll findings.
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LO 6.3
Measuring Public Opinion and
Political Information
• The Role of Polls in American
Democracy
• Polls help politicians detect public
preferences.
• Critics – Politicians think more about
following than leading public; bandwagon
effect distort elections; exit-day polls
discourage voting; and wording of
questions manipulate answers.
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The Role of Polls in American
Democracy
• Supporters of polling believe it is a tool for
democracy by which policymakers can
keep in touch with changing opinions on
issues.
• Critics of polling think it makes politicians
more concerned with following than leading
and may thus discourage bold leadership.
• Emphasis on poll results sometimes has
drowned out the issues of recent
presidential campaigns.
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The Role of Polls in American
Democracy
• The election day exit poll is probably the
most criticized type of poll.
• Perhaps the most pervasive criticism of
polling is that pollsters can get pretty much
the results they want by altering the
wording of questions.
• Although the bias in such questions may
be easy to detect, the ethical problem is
that an organization may not report how
the survey questions were worded
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Measuring Public Opinion and
Political Information
LO 6.3
• What Polls Reveal About Americans’
Political Information
• Polls reveal that the average American has a lower level of
political knowledge than citizens of other countries at
similar levels of development.
• Americans may know their basic beliefs but not how that
affects policies of the government.
• Increased levels of education and the increased availability
of information over the last four decades have scarcely
raised public knowledge about politics.
• Public cynicism and mistrust of government undermines the
ability of government to address pressing social problems.
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LO 6.3
Measuring Public Opinion and
Political Information
• The Decline of Trust in Government
• Since 1964, trust in government has declined.
• In the late 1950s and early 1960s, nearly three quarters
of Americans said that they trusted the government in
Washington to do the right thing always or mostly.
• First Vietnam and then Watergate shook the people’s
confidence in the federal government
• Trust in government has gone up somewhat since
9/11/2001.
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What Americans Value: Political
Ideologies
LO 6.4
• Who Are the Liberals and Conservatives?
• Americans pick ideological label of conservative
over liberal.
• In 2008, 36% were conservatives, 38% were
moderates, and just 26% were liberals.
• Gender gap – Women more likely support
Democratic candidates.
• 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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What Americans Value: Political
Ideologies
LO 6.4
• Do People Think in Ideological
Terms?
• Ideologues (12%) – Yes they do.
• Group Benefits (42%) – Think of groups
they like or dislike.
• Nature of the Times (24%) – If times are
good or bad for them.
• No issue content (22%) – Vote for party
or personality.
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How Americans Participate in
Politics
LO 6.5
• Conventional Participation
•
•
•
•
•
Voting in elections.
Working in campaigns or running for office.
Contacting elected officials.
Ringing doorbells for a petition.
Running for office.
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How Americans Participate in
Politics
LO 6.5
• Protest as Participation
• Protest – Designed to achieve policy
changes through dramatic and
unconventional tactics.
• Civil disobedience – Reflects a conscious
decision to break a law believed to be
immoral and to suffer the consequences.
• Violence – Riots and fighting.
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How Americans Participate in
Politics
LO 6.5
• Class, Inequality, and Participation
• Class-biased activity – Citizens of higher
socioeconomic status participating more than
others.
• Minority groups like Hispanics and African
Americans are below average in terms of political
participation.
• 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.
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Understanding Public Opinion and
Political Action
LO 6.6
• Public Attitudes Toward the Scope of
Government
• The question of government power is a complex one, but it
is one of the key controversies in American politics today.
• Public opinions on different aspects of the same issue do not always
hold together well:
• while more people today think the government is too big rather than
too small, a plurality has consistently called for spending on programs
like education, healthcare, Wid to big cities, protecting the
environment, and fighting crime.
• Many political scientists say that Americans are ideological
conservatives but operational liberals.
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Understanding Public Opinion and
Political Action
LO 6.6
• Democracy, Public Opinion, and
Political Action
• Americans select leaders in democratic
elections.
• Polls reveal that Americans know little
about candidates’ issues.
• People vote more for performance than
policy.
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LO 6.1
Summary
• The American People
• Immigration has accelerated in America in
recent decades.
• The size of the minority population has
increased greatly.
• By 2050, whites will represent less than 50% of
the population.
• The population has also been aging and
moving to Sunbelt states such as California,
Texas, and Florida.
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Which of the following is the fastestgrowing group in the United States?
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.1
African Americans
Asian Americans
Hispanics
Native Americans
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Which of the following is the fastestgrowing group in the United States?
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.1
African Americans
Asian Americans
Hispanics
Native Americans
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LO 6.2
Summary
• How Americans Learn About Politics:
Political Socialization
• The principal actors in the socialization
process are the family, the media, and schools.
• As people age, the firmness with which they
hold political attitudes, such as party
identification, tends to increase.
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LO 6.2
The main source of political socialization
WITHIN the
context is government
and civics classes.
A.
B.
C.
D.
school
family
mass media
all of the above
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LO 6.2
The main source of political socialization
WITHIN the
context is government
and civics classes.
A.
B.
C.
D.
school
family
mass media
all of the above
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LO 6.3
Summary
• Measuring Public Opinion and Political
Information
• Polls are conducted through the technique of
random sampling.
• A random sample of 1,000 will yield results
within plus or minus three percentage points of
what would be found if everyone were
interviewed.
• Polls detect public preferences and how
informed we are about issues.
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LO 6.3
Which of the following ensures that the
opinions of several hundred million
Americans can be inferred through polling?
A. Random sampling.
B. Sampling error.
C. Population sampling that ensures a
sample size of at least 1,000 to
1,500 people.
D. All of the above.
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LO 6.3
Which of the following ensures that the
opinions of several hundred million
Americans can be inferred through polling?
A. Random sampling.
B. Sampling error.
C. Population sampling that ensures a
sample size of at least 1,000 to
1,500 people.
D. All of the above.
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LO 6.4
Summary
• What Americans Value: Political
Ideologies
• A political ideology is a coherent set of values
and beliefs about public policy.
• The two most prominent ideologies in
American politics are conservatism and
liberalism.
• These ideologies guide people’s thinking on
policy issues.
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LO 6.4
Summary
• What Americans Value: Political
Ideologies (cont.)
• 62% of Americans call themselves either
conservatives or liberals.
• Americans are conservative (36%) in principle
but liberal (26%) in practice; that is, they are
against big government but favor more
spending on a wide variety of programs.
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Americans are more likely to be
.
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.4
conservative than liberal
liberal than conservative
moderate than conservative
moderate than liberal
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Americans are more likely to be
.
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.4
conservative than liberal
liberal than conservative
moderate than conservative
moderate than liberal
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LO 6.5
Summary
• How Americans Participate in Politics
• Conventional participation includes
voting, writing letters or e-mails to public
officials, attending political meetings,
signing petitions, and giving money to
campaigns and political groups.
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LO 6.5
Summary
• How Americans Participate in Politics
(cont.)
• Unconventional participation includes
attending protest demonstrations and
acts of civil disobedience.
• Citizens of higher social economic status
participate more in American politics.
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Which of the following type of political
participation is most common in the
United States?
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.5
Protesting a governmental policy.
Litigating through the court system.
Writing to a member of Congress.
Voting in elections.
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Which of the following type of political
participation is most common in the
United States?
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 6.5
Protesting a governmental policy.
Litigating through the court system.
Writing to a member of Congress.
Voting in elections.
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LO 6.6
Summary
• Understanding Public Opinion and
Political Action
• Conservatives think the scope of
government has become too wide in
recent decades.
• Liberals believe the scope of government
should be further increased and support
the 2010 Health Insurance Reform Act.
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LO 6.6
Public opinion polls reveal that Americans
A. are ideological liberals but
operational conservatives.
B. oppose the idea of big government
in principle but favor it in practice.
C. favor the idea of big government in
principle but oppose it in practice.
D. are ideological moderates.
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LO 6.6
Public opinion polls reveal that Americans
A. are ideological liberals but
operational conservatives.
B. oppose the idea of big government
in principle but favor it in practice.
C. favor the idea of big government in
principle but oppose it in practice.
D. are ideological moderates.
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