POLT 10100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Relate, Limited Government
Document Summary
Many protests against it, burning of conscription notices. 5. 1 characterize the ideal role of public opinion in a democracy. Public opinion consists of the core political beliefs and political attitudes expressed by ordinary citizens; it can be measured rather accurately through polls and surveys. The democratic ideals of popular sovereignty and majority rule imply that government policy should respond to the wishes of citizens, at least in the long run. An important test of how good democracy is working, then, is how closely government policy corresponds to public opinion. Certain core beliefs make up american culture such as, individualism, limited government, and market economy. They also have political attitudes, individual views about public policy, political parties, candidates etc. Public opinion is the expression of political attitudes and core beliefs. Public opinion is an important part of democracy. Yet many of the founders of our government worried that public opinion would shift too frequently and radically.
