Chapter 10 Political Socialization
Chapter 10: Political socialization and Public opinion
I) Short Answer Questions
1) Government officials pay close attention to public opinion polls and other measures of public opinion because of several reasons. First of all, public opinion polls represent an opportunity for government officials to view a snapshot of public opinion. Secondly, public opinion polls allow government officials to see the attitudes of individuals regarding political subjects. Even though Government officials pay close attention to public opinion poll, most politicians deny that they pay any attention to polls because they believe that public opinion polls do not reflect the real opinion of the public. …show more content…
2) “Individualism” is an attitude, rooted in classical liberal theory and reinforced by the frontier tradition, that citizens are capable of taking care of themselves with minimal governmental assistance.
“Socialism” is an attitude which values community needs over individual wants.
3) One factor that help explain the stability of popular belief structures is that in the USA, levels of distrust in our institutions of government and our constitutional system are relatively low. Another reason is because our political elites tend to be more educated, they are even more supportive of democratic ideals than typical individuals. The third reason is our society use political channels to promote change.
4) The impact of social groups on political value can be defined by the fact that these groups characterized by social class, education, religion, race and ethnicity, and gender, represent pressure groups involving a large number of people who can be manipulated, not by their individual political beliefs, but by the political beliefs of the majority in their different groups. Also, the political attitudes of Americans tend to differ by income, education, religion, race and ethnicity, and gender because people with similar backgrounds tend to develop similar political
opinions.
II) Using Your Understanding
As we all know, politicians cannot trust or rely on elections trends because those trends may change at any moments. During the 2008's election, the support for Obama and McCain changed over the time among various sub groups such as, the national adults, the registered voters and the likely voters. First of all, while looking at the elections trends, we can notice that certain group such as the national adult change their opinion of Obama during the 2008's election campaign. For example, between Jun 15 and 19, there were 39 people who were going to vote for Obama for sure and 30 votes for McCain, but later between Sep 5 and 7, we can notice that Obama had 38 votes and McCain, 39 votes, because Obama lost a vote, and McCain gained 9 votes in only 3 months. Secondly, while looking at the elections trends, we can also notice that certain group such as, likely voters change their opinion of the republican candidate (McCain) between September and October 2008. For example, between September 5 and 7, 45% of the likely voters were supposed to vote for Obama and 50% for McCain, but between Oct 10 and 12, the likely voters change their opinion of the republican candidate. As a result, Obama had 51% of the likely voters and McCain had 45%. Finally, even though certain groups changed their opinions of their first choice candidate over the course of the 2008 campaign, other groups, in contrast, remained consistent over the course of the 2008 campaign. For example, the registered voters remained consistent on their answer to the question” I am afraid of what will happen if my candidate for president does not win”.
I) Short Answer Questions
1) Government officials pay close attention to public opinion polls and other measures of public opinion because of several reasons. First of all, public opinion polls represent an opportunity for government officials to view a snapshot of public opinion. Secondly, public opinion polls allow government officials to see the attitudes of individuals regarding political subjects. Even though Government officials pay close attention to public opinion poll, most politicians deny that they pay any attention to polls because they believe that public opinion polls do not reflect the real opinion of the public. …show more content…
2) “Individualism” is an attitude, rooted in classical liberal theory and reinforced by the frontier tradition, that citizens are capable of taking care of themselves with minimal governmental assistance.
“Socialism” is an attitude which values community needs over individual wants.
3) One factor that help explain the stability of popular belief structures is that in the USA, levels of distrust in our institutions of government and our constitutional system are relatively low. Another reason is because our political elites tend to be more educated, they are even more supportive of democratic ideals than typical individuals. The third reason is our society use political channels to promote change.
4) The impact of social groups on political value can be defined by the fact that these groups characterized by social class, education, religion, race and ethnicity, and gender, represent pressure groups involving a large number of people who can be manipulated, not by their individual political beliefs, but by the political beliefs of the majority in their different groups. Also, the political attitudes of Americans tend to differ by income, education, religion, race and ethnicity, and gender because people with similar backgrounds tend to develop similar political
opinions.
II) Using Your Understanding
As we all know, politicians cannot trust or rely on elections trends because those trends may change at any moments. During the 2008's election, the support for Obama and McCain changed over the time among various sub groups such as, the national adults, the registered voters and the likely voters. First of all, while looking at the elections trends, we can notice that certain group such as the national adult change their opinion of Obama during the 2008's election campaign. For example, between Jun 15 and 19, there were 39 people who were going to vote for Obama for sure and 30 votes for McCain, but later between Sep 5 and 7, we can notice that Obama had 38 votes and McCain, 39 votes, because Obama lost a vote, and McCain gained 9 votes in only 3 months. Secondly, while looking at the elections trends, we can also notice that certain group such as, likely voters change their opinion of the republican candidate (McCain) between September and October 2008. For example, between September 5 and 7, 45% of the likely voters were supposed to vote for Obama and 50% for McCain, but between Oct 10 and 12, the likely voters change their opinion of the republican candidate. As a result, Obama had 51% of the likely voters and McCain had 45%. Finally, even though certain groups changed their opinions of their first choice candidate over the course of the 2008 campaign, other groups, in contrast, remained consistent over the course of the 2008 campaign. For example, the registered voters remained consistent on their answer to the question” I am afraid of what will happen if my candidate for president does not win”.