Chapter Summary with Key Terms

The American public and politicians alike are divided about how much public opinion should matter in democratic politics. Politicians and the media both watch public opinion, as measured in public opinion polls very closely. Elected officials look for job security by responding to immediate public desires or by skillfully predicting future requests. The media make large investments in polls, sometimes covering public attitudes on a candidate or issue as a story in itself.

Modern polling science surveys a random sample of the population, controlling for sample bias and keeping sampling error as small as possible. Benchmark polls, tracking polls, and exit polls are used in running and covering campaigns to varying degrees. Pseudo-polls like call-in polls, most Internet polls, or push polls are used to manipulate rather than measure public opinion.

There are two competing visions of citizenship in America. The ideal democratic citizen demonstrates political knowledge, possesses an ideology (usually liberal or conservative), tolerates different ideas, and votes consistently. At the other extreme lies the apolitical, self-interested citizen. Most Americans fall somewhere between these extremes, but factors such as age, higher education, and improved socioeconomic status seem to contribute to behavior that is closer to the ideal.

Political socialization--the transfer of fundamental democratic values from one generation to the next--is affected by demographic characteristics such as race and gender, as evidenced, for example, by the gender gap and the marriage gap, and by life experiences such as education and religion.

Many Americans do not measure up to the ideal of the democratic citizen, and there are grounds to argue that it may be rational for them not to do so. Despite this rational ignorance, however, much evidence supports the idea that public opinion does play a large role in government policy. While some citizens may seem apolitical and disinterested, many use rational information shortcuts like on-line processing and the two-step flow of information, through which they get cues from opinion leaders to make their voting decisions. Policymakers have responded by staying generally responsive to public preferences.

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should understand

the role of public opinion in a democracy
how public opinion can be measured
where our opinions come from
what our opinions are--whether we think like the “ideal democratic citizen.”

Materials developed by Matthew J. Streb, Northern Illinois University