Chap8

• The view that it makes sense to remain
• relatively uninformed about most policy/political issues, given the enormous
• effort to keep us closely with even a few topics.

• Lack of a stable perspective in
• response to opinion surveys.

Cues about candidates and policies drawn from everyday life.

• Tend to reinforce one another’s existing
• prejudices.

• Political authority claimed by an election winner as reflecting approval
• of the people.

Scientific measure of popular opinion.

Measure of public support for a political figure or institution

Presidential declaration that issues instructions to the executive branch without any requirement for congressional action or approval

• The issues the public considers important, the media covers, and politicians
• discuss.

Types of people they plan to survey.

People share specific factors: age, race, religion, or country of origin

Persons identified as probable voters in an upcoming election

The influence of how a polling question is asked.

Pollsters’ method of targeting specific groups of voters by assigning greater or lesser value to responses from those groups.

statistical calculation of how accurate your results are.

the tendency of poll respondents to misstate their views

a poll of people leaving a polling place

an unofficial ballot conducted as a test of opinion

conducted early in a campaign

• discussions with small groups of people conducted by expert moderators,
• can reveal things more into detail

a candidate who believes is doing well performs poorly on Election Day.

a candidate losing in polls performs better than expected

differences in political opinion between women and men.

individuals who control have an influence over public debates.