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Public Opinion, Mass Media, and Interest Groups

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Title: Public Opinion, Mass Media, and Interest Groups


1
Public Opinion, Mass Media, and Interest Groups
  • Chapter 11 Section 1, 2, and 3

2
Public Opinion
  • Public Opinion- ideas and attitudes that most
    people hold about a particular issue or person
  • Public Opinion helps shape the decisions of every
    President
  • Presidents need the support of the public and
    Congress to carry out programs they are more
    likely to have support if their popularity with
    the public is high

3
Personal Background
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Income
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Occupation
  • Place of residence
  • Ex. A young wealthy person from a big city will
    have different views about government than a poor
    elderly woman from a small town

4
Interest Groups
  • Interest Group- group of people who share a
    similar point of view about an issue and unite to
    promote their beliefs
  • Interest groups try to persuade public officials
    toward their point of view

5
Features of Public Opinion
  • Direction- Positive or negative
  • Most of the time its mixed- some think positive,
    some think negative
  • Intensity- Strength of an opinion
  • When Americans have strong opinions on an issue,
    many are willing to act upon them by voting for
    or against a candidate or participating in a
    demonstration
  • Stability- How firmly people hold to their views
  • Peoples opinions are less likely to change when
    they have a firm belief

6
Measuring Public Opinion
  • Public Opinion Polls- survey in which individuals
    are asked to answer questions about a particular
    issue or person
  • How good of a job is President Obama doing?
  • Do you support sending more troops to Iraq?
  • Do you support universal healthcare?
  • How satisfied are you with your Senators?
  • Pollster- person who regularly conducts polls
  • Random Samples- group of people picked at random
    from all over the US
  • Usually 1,500, men, women, all races, incomes,
    ages and viewpoints

7
Measuring Public Opinion cont.
  • Pollsters must be careful how they word their
    questions so they do not influence people
  • Push Polls- polls in which questions are worded
    to influence a persons response
  • Pros- people in office keep up with citizens
    changing ideas about issues
  • Cons- people in office are more concerned with
    pleasing the public than political leadership

8
Mass Media
  • Print Media- newspapers, magazines, and books
  • Electronic Media- TV, radio, and internet
  • Public Agenda- issues that receive the most time,
    money and effort from government leaders
  • When the media publicizes a problem people begin
    to worry about it and the government must address
    it

9
Interest Groups
  • Private Interest Groups- promote special interest
    of their members
  • National Association for the Advancement of
    Colored People
  • National Organization for Women
  • National Education Association
  • American Medical Association
  • National Rifle Association
  • American Automobile Association
  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
  • Give members incentives to join

10
Public Interest Groups
  • Public Interest Groups- promote special interest
    of all, not just members
  • League of Women Voters
  • Sierra Club
  • Political Action Committees (PACS)- collect money
    from the members of their group and use it to
    support some candidates and oppose others

11
Lobbyist
  • Lobbyists- representatives of interest groups who
    contact government officials directly
  • Named this as they used to wait in the lobby to
    ask politicians for favors
  • Prepare their own drafts of bills
  • Try and make sure laws are enforced and upheld in
    court

12
Lobbyists
  • Pros- make
  • government more
  • responsive,
  • communicate peoples
  • wishes to politicians
  • Cons- have too much say in government, monetary
    contributions give them improper influence over
    government
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