11.1 What Is Public Opinion
- An individual’s own beliefs and the blending of individual beliefs into a larger concept called public opinion
What do Americans Not Know about Politics
- Many Americans can’t answer basic questions about the government
- Makes it harder for public opinion
11.2 Trying to Measure Public Opinion
- Focus group - a small group of individuals assembled for a specific issue
How Scientific polling works
- The problem is to decide who to include in the sample
- Valid polling requires random selection
- The goal is a sample that represents the population, representative sample
- Weighting - adjusts the result of a survey to better acurately reflect how prevalent an opinion is
- sampling error - margin of error
- Usually +-3% margin of error
- If answers within margin of error, it is too close to call
- Can reduce margin of error but increases cost by increasing sample
- Mass survey - aims for about 1500 respondants
Types of Surveys
- Entrance survey- poll conducted of people coming into an event
- Exit poll- poll conducted following an event
- News outlets have agreed to not release exit polls until all of states polling places have closed
- Benchmark poll - Beginning of a political campain to gauge support for a canidate
11.3 The Effects of Public Opinion on Democratic Representation
Understanding Patterns within American Public Opinion