POSC150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Middle Age, Rational Ignorance, Limited Voting
31 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CH 11 Book Notes: Public Opinion
Public opinion: the collective attitudes and beliefs of individuals on one or more issues
Public opinion polls: scientific efforts to estimate what an entire group thinks about an issue by
asking a smaller sample of the group for its opinion
● Public opinion is important for the proper functioning of democracy
● Greatly influences politics
The Role of Public Opinion in a Democracy
1. Normative: we believe public opinion should influence what government does
2. Empirical: a lot of people behave as if public opinion does matter, and thus, to the
degree that they measure, record, and react to it, it does become a factor in American
politics
Why Public Opinion Should Matter
● The idea that the government exists to serve the interests of its citizens
● Two views of what role we think the democratic citizen should be
○ Ideal democratic citizen-founded on the vision of a virtuous citizen activated by
concern for the common good, who reorganizes that democracy carries
obligations as well as rights
○ Americans are apolitical, self interested actors- americans are ill-informed,
inattentive, politically intolerant, and rigid
Why Public Opinion Does Matter
● Elections
● Modern political arena
Citizen Values
Political Knowledge and Interest
● Americans are not very well informed about their political system
● Ignorant about other central actors and key principles of political life
Tolerance
● Key democratic value
● Prerequisite for compromise
● Freedoms of speech, religion, political equality
● Least politically tolerant are consistently the less educated and less politically
sophisticated
Participation
● We do not participate enough
● Restrictive registration laws, limited voting hours, and the frequency of elections
● Greater levels of participation are seen among those with more education and higher
income
What Influences Our Opinions About Politics?
Document Summary
Public opinion: the collective attitudes and beliefs of individuals on one or more issues. Public opinion polls: scientific efforts to estimate what an entire group thinks about an issue by asking a smaller sample of the group for its opinion. Public opinion is important for the proper functioning of democracy. The idea that the government exists to serve the interests of its citizens. Two views of what role we think the democratic citizen should be. Ideal democratic citizen-founded on the vision of a virtuous citizen activated by concern for the common good, who reorganizes that democracy carries obligations as well as rights. Americans are apolitical, self interested actors- americans are ill-informed, inattentive, politically intolerant, and rigid. Americans are not very well informed about their political system. Ignorant about other central actors and key principles of political life. Least politically tolerant are consistently the less educated and less politically sophisticated. Restrictive registration laws, limited voting hours, and the frequency of elections.
