POLS 155 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Public Health Insurance Option
11 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Views held by ordinary citizens of cials take into account when they choose to act or not to act. Public opinion important because democratic government springs from the will for the people. But the american public has a relatively low level of political information. This lack of info restrict role public can play in policy disputes. Political socialization: the learning process by which people acquire their political opinions beliefs and values, primary agents. Family school or church: secondary agents. Spiral of silence or bandwagon effect people afraid to speak against dominant opinion so stay silent makes prevailing opinion appears stronger than it is. Ideology: general belief about the tole and purpose of the government, not the same as partisans, party identi cation refers to a person sense of loyalty to a political party. Party id: fairly stable over time but can be in uenced by issues and candidates, partisanship affects how people perceive and interpret events.
