Public Opinion
Public Opinion and Political Socialization
Public Opinion-‐ The collected attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question. One issue in America that stirs differences in public opinion is the death penalty. Does the death penalty deter people from killing? Some think it does, some think it doesn’t. The history of public thought on the death penalty has revealed 5 characteristics of public opinion. 1. The public’s attitudes toward a given governmental policy can vary over time, often dramatically. (People tend to favor capital punishment in times of war, or when security is threatened.) 2. Public opinion places boundaries on allowable types of public policy. (Stoning criminals is not acceptable in America, but lethal injection is.) 3. If asked by pollsters, citizens are willing to register opinions on matters outside their expertise. (Idea that lethal injection is more humane.) 4. Governments tend to respond to public opinion. 5. The government sometimes does not do what people want. (There were only 60 executions in 2005, yet there were over 16, 000 murders.) The Distribution of Public Opinion: People rarely think alike. As such, governments must analyze the shape and the stability
Public Opinion-‐ The collected attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question. One issue in America that stirs differences in public opinion is the death penalty. Does the death penalty deter people from killing? Some think it does, some think it doesn’t. The history of public thought on the death penalty has revealed 5 characteristics of public opinion. 1. The public’s attitudes toward a given governmental policy can vary over time, often dramatically. (People tend to favor capital punishment in times of war, or when security is threatened.) 2. Public opinion places boundaries on allowable types of public policy. (Stoning criminals is not acceptable in America, but lethal injection is.) 3. If asked by pollsters, citizens are willing to register opinions on matters outside their expertise. (Idea that lethal injection is more humane.) 4. Governments tend to respond to public opinion. 5. The government sometimes does not do what people want. (There were only 60 executions in 2005, yet there were over 16, 000 murders.) The Distribution of Public Opinion: People rarely think alike. As such, governments must analyze the shape and the stability