AP Gov Political Socialization and Public Opinion

Political Ideology

Definition: A cohesive set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and the role of government. Significance: Political ideology is affected by political socialization and stems from the same roots as political socialization. Political ideology prompts people to favor a certain set of policy programs and adopt views about the proper role of government in the political process. It essentially shapes what the person believes and values.

Margin of error

Definition: A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll. Significance: Polls that are extremely close cannot be decided one way or the other because they have to leave room for error. The margin of error is about 4 points. Polls with a smaller margin of error are more accurate; polls with a larger margin of error are less accurate. Polls with a greater sample size have a smaller margin of error.

Random sampling

Definition: A method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected. Significance: Random sampling is important so the results are not biased and skewed. A random sample is key to making sure that the results of the polls are accurate, as there is no bias in who is polled.

Conservative

Definition: A person who believes government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom. Significance: This is important because this person believes that a person, specifically one in the economy should be free of governmental controls to increase individual liberty and help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. They also believe in lower taxes, which would support the reduced involvement of government. Conservatism opposes liberalism and the government marries the two to come to a moderate middle agreement.

Liberal

Definition: A person whose views favor more government involvement in business, social welfare, minority rights, and increased govt spending Significance: A liberal favors more governmental involvement in issues. Government involvement can provide services to people in need and for people with disabilities. They believe in minority rights and think that minorities are very important. Because they also believe in increased spending that would result in higher taxes. Liberalism opposes conservatism and the government marries the two to come together to a moderate agreement.

Exit poll

Definition: A poll of voters exiting the polls (voting locations) to attempt to predict the outcome of the election. Significance: The results of an exit poll may create a bandwagon effect. If a media source puts out that one candidate won in a certain region, others might tag along with the majority and vote for that same person. This happened

Sample

Definition: A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole. Significance: Since it is impossible to poll everyone in an entire population, one must choose a smaller group of people that are representative of the whole. Samples are important because they are the ones getting polled as the population is too difficult to poll as a whole.

Gender Gap

Definition: A term that refers to the difference in political views between men and women Significance: Women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Women tend to be significantly less conservative than men and are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending.

Stratified sampling

Definition: A type of probability sampling in which the population is divided into groups with a common attribute and a random sample is chosen within each group Significance: This is the most reliable form of sampling because it is fair and takes into account each group and the percentage of the population they make up.

Public Opinion

Definition: Attitudes about institutions, leaders, political issues, and events held by a significant proportion of a society. Significance: Public opinion has the power to shape policy decisions, because it is the opinion of a large portion of the population. Public opinion is also used to help policymakers make decisions that will be highly approved of.

Political Socialization

Definition: Complex process by which people get their sense of political identity, beliefs, and values (family, school, media, religion, national events-all help to socialize) Significance: Political socialization is crucial because it shapes a person's beliefs as a whole. They are most likely to be influenced by their parents, but many other forces influence people too. It is important because people's values and beliefs are based off of how political socialization occurs, and can influence them to believe one thing or another based on whether an action has a negative or positive impact on their life.

Mass media

Definition: Means of communication such as newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet that can reach large, widely dispersed audiences. Significance: The mass media has incredible influence over people, as they can reach so many. Whatever they say can be heard by millions of people and can influence those people to think a certain way about public policy. If the media says that a certain candidate is a liar, there will be many people who then think they are a liar, regardless of whether or not it is true.

Socioeconomic

Definition: Measure of social and economic characteristics that typically include measures of income, poverty level, wealth, education, work status/occupation, and place of residence. Significance: Knowing the socioeconomics of the population can help a poller divide the population into categories to choose people for a poll based on stratified sampling. Knowing the socioeconomics of the population can also help a poller create their poll to influence those certain people a certain way.

Moderate

Definition: Person whose views are between conservative and liberal and may include some of both ideologies Significance: Moderates come in many different forms. Some are more conservative, some are more liberal. However, moderates are crucial to leveling out the playing field in policymaking, as they can see both sides of the argument. Moderates swing both ways, and sometimes vote democrat, sometimes vote republican, making them crucial to elections as they can make a candidate win an election.

Tracking poll

Definition: Polls conducted by media outlets to gauge the potential outcome of a political election on a periodic basis. Significance: The most common tracking poll is the poll to gauge the approval rate of the President. Tracking polls can be very useful to determine how opinions have changed over time and how opinions now compare to opinions before.

Push poll

Definition: Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate Significance: Polls like this are important because they push people to want to vote for their candidate's party. They paint the opposition in a negative light on purpose so that the people taking the polls will vote for them.

Demographic

Definition: Related to population balance; the distribution of human population groups Significance: Knowing demographics is crucial to conducting an accurate poll. If you know the demographics of the population, you know the specific aspects of each region and then you can select people from each group to produce a stratified sample.

Public Opinion Polls

Definition: Scientific surveys aimed at gauging public preference of candidates and issues Significance: Public opinion polls help policymakers know what the public wants and which way they want decisions to go on important issues. Public opinion polls are very important to everyday lawmaking because they serve as the guide for which policymakers to follow.

"Universe"

Definition: The population of a sample Significance: The sample, if taken correctly, will represent its universe. This must be taken into consideration when conducting a poll.

Political "Left"

Definition: Those who wish to change the current social or political systems or power structures Significance: These people do want change and are typically liberal. They think there is a problem with government that needs to be fixed or that there is a problem that the government can fix. They include democrats, communists, and socialists.

Political "Right"

Definition: Those who wish to keep current social or political systems or power structures Significance: These people do not want change and are typically conservative. They think that the government works fine just the way it is and do not want any reforms made to it. They include republicans, capitalists, authoritarians, and fascists.

Straw poll

Definition: Unscientific survey used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies Significance: Straw polls are mostly inaccurate because they are not representative of an entire population. They are typically held by magazines, but the only people that take the poll are the people that read those magazines.