Political Socialization and Public Opinion
This chapter deals with the role that political socialization and mass opinion play within the American polity. It discusses the enculturation process of political socialization through primary and secondary groups as they transmit the American political culture to the next generation. Furthermore, this chapter deals with the structure of public opinion as exhibited among informed, interested elites juxtaposed against unknowing and uncaring masses. While there is a unifying American creed around major issues such as individualism, Americans display a great variation at the individual and group levels as to the specifics of public opinion as measured against issues, events, and personalities.
Public opinion is further distributed by showing distinct differences in issue stances relative to various demographic groups within our society divided along class, race, ethnic, and gender lines. For instance, there is a discernible gender gap in public opinion between men and women and a significant racial gap between white people and black people. Additionally, we read how public opinion polling/surveying developed from its anecdotal origins to become scientific. Since then, polling has been used in diverse ways with different types of surveys employed for different purposes, including campaigning (tracking polls), analyzing (preference polling), reporting (opinion surveys), and even forecasting (exit polls). Lastly, this chapter provides a basic division of political ideology between liberals, populists, libertarians, and conservatives along dimensions measuring the amount of intervention by the government into the economy and the degree of personal freedoms supported within the society. The American paradox of voters holding conflicting ideological positions is considered.
Quizzes
Critical Thinking Exercises
1. The values of the American creed inform our life, political culture, and public policy in the United States. Major political issues gender equality have been and continue to be at the forefront of politics. Worldwide, attitudes toward gender equality in other societies vary greatly.
Visit https://worldpublicopinion.net/ and investigate the diverse national opinions as to why such a variety of attitudes exists. In particular, see if you can identify key differences in other nations’ political cultures and values when compared and contrasted with those of the American creed. Break into groups of three or four, discuss your findings, and be prepared to report back a group response to the following questions:
- Identify one country that appears to be culturally similar and one country that appears less similar to the U.S. with regard to attitudes toward gender equality.
- Discuss the basis for your identification. Speculate on how policy formation would be different and/or similar to that of the U.S. in these two countries regarding issues of gender equality.
2. Diversity and immigration have been constant facts of American life since the colonial period. Today our media focuses much of its attention on the rise of Hispanic immigration and the potential impact of these new Americans on voting behavior, party politics, and American political culture.
Visit http://www.pewhispanic.org/ and spend some time examining the demographic and polling data on Hispanic voters.
- How does voter turnout in this population modulate their impact?
- Are the majorities in these polls large enough to make firm statements about Hispanics as a category?
- To what extent does this data help you understand differences within the Hispanic community (e.g. differences of Cuban vs. Mexican vs. Guatemalan community behaviors)?
3. In recent years, the variety of social media has transformed national and even global communications and sharing of information and ideas.
Visit http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/15/14-of-americans-have-changed-their-mind-about-an-issue-because-of-something-they-saw-on-social-media/ to see what impact social media has on public opinion in the United States.
- Compare and contrast the study’s results with regard to the following variables: gender, race, age, and political party affiliation.
- Do any of the study’s findings adequately explain the impact of your own use of social media on your political thinking? Why or why not?
- Are there other variables that this study should have included? Why or why not?
Useful Links
Links to further content exploring the themes covered in this chapter
Religion in America- Pew Foundation
http://religions.pewforum.org/
Gay Marriage in America- Pew Foundation
Pew Hispanic Center
Pew Hispanic Center Report- Most Latinos are more optimistic about Biden and less so about Trump
UN Women – The global champion for gender equality
Gay and Lesbian Rights- Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1651/Gay-Lesbian-Rights.aspx
Race Relations- Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1687/Race-Relations.aspx
The State of Free Speech and Tolerance in America
https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/state-free-speech-tolerance-america
Roper Center
This is the main website for the Roper Public Opinion Center containing a body of archived polls divided by issues and specific to certain elections.
Polling Report–Iraq
As an example of the above, this is a recent report on a Gallup Poll done regarding the Iraq War.
Rasmussen Reports
This site contains an array of polls dealing with public opinion topics in a number of areas including politics. It also has a tab that can be clicked on to get access to public opinion video analyses.
American National Election Studies
This is a scholarly base polling organization that sponsors routine national level surveys on the state of American public opinion.
General Social Survey
This site represents another scholarly based polling organization; its methods are deemed not as sophisticated as those followed by the American National Election Studies, but it has a more complete archival set to examine public opinion holistically.
CNN Election Center 2024
This archived site includes a number of polls relating to the 2024 presidential election as well as descriptive analyses of the actual outcomes of the election.
Real Clear Politics
This site deals with various polls collected by Real Clear Politics including “polls of polls,” which average the results of a number of polls relative to personalities, issues, and events in the 2024 presidential election.
Real Clear Politics Videos
This site contains an ever-changing litany of political videos reflecting the public opinion issues of the day. Most of the videos are lifted from conventional news sources.
FiveThirtyEight
This site examines all aspects American politics, especially on presidential elections.
Migration Policy Institute
This site is operated by the non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to research concerning global migration.
FAIR Organization
Homepage of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, which is a media watchdog agency.
U.S. Census
Statistics regarding American population demographics. Also, provides future economic trends and projections.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
Data and statistics available for federal governmental agencies.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
American National Election Studies
This is the main Web page for the American National Election Studies; it provides a plethora of polling data relevant to American presidential and mid-term election cycles. This is excellent for up-to-date empirics on the condition of the American electorate.
Pew Research Center
This is the main Web page for the Pew Research Center a non-partisan public opinion analysis organization that sponsors and studies polls dealing with a plethora of issues including American national politics.
Annenberg Public Policy Center
This is the main Web page of the Annenberg Public Policy Center which sponsors national election surveys and provides public analysis of them especially regarding policy issues.
PRRI
PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research and news reporting at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy.