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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action

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	Political Socialization While political socialization is certainly much more subtle in the United States than in less democratic societies, the government still has an interest in socializing citizens. There are many ways in which the government attempts to socialize citizens ranging from declaring official national "patriotic" holidays such as Independence Day (July) and President's Day (February), to encouraging and understanding of and loyalty to the political system through the teaching of social studies. More recently the federal government has used the World Wide Web to subtly (and not so subtly) socialize young Americans. Search Tips Go to the Library of Congress web site called America's Story at http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi. Take several minutes and explore the site fully. Questions to Ask What is your general feeling about America from this site? Is it positive or negative? Does the site contain any negative or bad information about America? Do you think this web site would help make a younger person feel more loyal to America? Do you get a sense of the basic values of America from this site? What are some of them? Why it Matters Since politics and participation in the political system is a learned behavior, political socialization is an important education for most citizens. In addition, governments find political socialization important because it helps ensure the stability of the political system. Get Involved How were you socialized politically? Think about the first time you heard your parents or grandparents talk about politics. Ask your parents about their political beliefs and when they first heard someone talk about politics. Compare their socialization with your socialization.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	Measuring Public Opinion It is an amazing feat of scientific thinking that we can interview as few as 1,000 people across the nation and determine with a good degree of accuracy just how Americans feel about nearly anything. As the text notes, this is possible because we rely upon a technique called random sampling. Based upon a survey we can make estimations. However, there is no guarantee that any individual person feels the same about an issue as the "average" American does based upon a survey. Search Tips Go to the Gallup Organization at http://www.gallup.com/. Click on "Gallup Poll News Service" and then click on "Poll Quiz." Take the quiz. Questions to Ask How well did you do? Do you feel that your views are well represented by the Gallup surveys? Why or why not? Why it Matters Increasingly public officials rely on public opinion polls to help them make decisions. Many Americans feel uncomfortable about this while others feel that so long as polls are accurately reflecting the views of Americans then it is okay for public officials to use them. Get Involved Polls are conducted almost daily. For one week count how many times you read the results of a poll, hear a poll mentioned on the news, or hear about polling information from other sources.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	Political Ideology Most of us don't walk around every day thinking about whether government is regulating the economy too much or not enough. Nor do most of us walk around thinking about whether government should or should not be able to make drug use illegal. Yet, if asked these questions most of us could come up with an answer. Why? Because most of us have a coherent set of values and beliefs about public policies such as those mentioned above. Let's examine this further. Search Tips Go to http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html and take the quiz that will indicate your political ideology. Questions to Ask Based upon the quiz results what is your political identity? Do you agree or not? Did you waiver on any of the questions? If so, go back and change them and see how this changes the result of the quiz. Why it Matters Our political ideology determines a lot about how we vote and what we think about our political leaders. Understanding our own ideology is an important part of being able to understand why we support some public policies and not others. Get Involved When the next election comes around try to find out the candidate's positions on the important public policy issues. Determine whether their positions are consistent with their party affiliation.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	Political Participation The traditional way that people participate in politics is to physically cast a vote. Other ways, as the text notes, include running for office, signing petitions, or volunteering for a campaign or cause. Yet increasingly the internet is providing ways for people to participate in politics. For example, some interest groups now send e-mail "flashes" to their members whenever Congress is about to vote on a bill important to the group. These e-mail flashes ask people to send an e-mail message back to their member of Congress expressing either support or opposition to the bill, whichever is the position taken by the organization. Search Tips Go to the web page of either your member of Congress or one of your senators. House members can be found at www.house.gov and senate members can be found at www.senate.gov. Usually members will list their positions on a variety of issues. Review these issue positions. If the member doesn't have issue position then go to another member until you find issue positions. Review them. Send an e-mail either stating your agreement or your opposition to one of the positions. Questions to Ask Which issue did you find that sparked your interest? Did you agree or disagree? Why? Did you get a response from the member? If so, what kind of response did you get? Were you satisfied with the response? Why or why not? Why it Matters As the text notes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Members of Congress don't know how you feel about particular issues unless you tell them. Since they represent you, it's important to let them know how you feel. Get Involved During this semester pay particular attention to the issues that come up in Congress (or in your state legislature). Whenever you hear about an issue that you have a view on send your legislator an e-mail expressing your view.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

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