Exam 3

the collective attitudes and beliefs of individuals on one or more issues

scientific efforts to estimate what an entire group thinks about an issue by asking a smaller sample of the group for its opinion

we believe public opinion should influence what government does; a lot of people actaully behave as though public opinion does matter

that citizens are too ignorant or ill-informed to be trusted with major political decisions

trusts groups of citizens to be competent on those issues in which they have a stake, but they think individuals may be too busy to gather all of the info needed to make informed decisions

have faith that the people are both smart enough and able to gather enough information to be effective decision makers

virtuous citizen activated by concerns for the common good, who recognizes the democracy carries obligations and rights; should be attentive, informed, exhibit political tolerance, willingness to compromise, and high levels of participation in civic activities

that Americans are apolitical and self interested actors; inattentive, ill informed, politically intolerant, and unlikely to get involved in political life

often behave as ideal citizens, even though as individuals they are not

that they are not well informed about their political system

consistently the less educated and less politically sophisticated

the process by which we learn our political orientations and allegiances; transferred from generation to generation

family, school, house of worship, etc

strong emotional attatchement to the political community

process by which a majority opinion becomes exagerrated because minorities do not feel comfortable speaking out in opposition

more liberal than whites, but on social issues like abortion and prayer in schools the racial differencs are more muted; they are also the most solidly democratic group in terms of party identification and voting

the tendency of men and women to differ in their political views on some issues

females are more liberal on social welfare (aid for children, elderly, and poor) and females are less favorable to the death penalty and less willing than men to go to war

liberal

small

the tendency for married people to hold political opinions that differ from those of people who have never been married

political engagement; older people tend to be more engaged with politics

groups of citizens whose political views have been shaped by the common events of their youth

as older groups die, overall opinion among citizenry changes