AP government #2 1. Public consensus, as with respect to an issue or situation. 2.

Public Agenda, an innovative public opinion research and public engagement organization, works to strengthen our democracy's capacity to tackle tough public policy issues. The public agenda is shape through the House of Representatives 3. each individual submits a vote 4. Because of the advance technology now the public depends on the media to get information on issues. The media however they only their opinion on the issues. 5. Media outlets can influence voters not only through the slant of a particular report, but also merely by choosing which stories to cover. The most common method of determining the effect of media content is to use survey data to measure the association between a respondents reported media exposure and his or her political views. Terms Public opinion: Public consensus, as with respect to an issue or situation Random sampling: the selection of a random sample; each element of the population has an equal chance of been selected. exit poll: a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations Gallup poll: An assessment of public opinion by the questioning of a statistically representative sample. Political Socialization: the process by which individuals acquire their political beliefs and attitudes Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. news media: elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public Public Agenda: an innovative public opinion research and public engagement organization, works to strengthen our democracy's capacity to tackle tough public policy issues.

Information Areas Characteristics of public opinion: it is shaped by peoples political culture and political socialization. Characteristics are: Distribution (Physical shape of responses when graphed) Intensity (Physical shaped of responses are helped) Stability (How much the opinion changes over time) Measuring public opinion takes a lot of painting interviewing procedures and careful wording of questions. The way public opinion is study is divided into 4 categories: quantitative measurement of opinion distributions

 investigation of the internal relationships among the individual opinions that make up public opinion on an issue description or analysis of the public role of public opinion Study both of the communication media that disseminate the ideas on which opinions are based and of the uses that propagandist and other manipulators make of these media. Factors that determine Ideological and Political Behavior the primary influence originates from family education (School/ teachers) mass media (news influences people to vote and show the negative and positives from both sides) News Media Biased This occurs when the media in the United States systematically presents a particular point of view. Claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias are the types of claims in the United Sates. There are claims of bias in both news and entertainment media. Poll Measure Public Opinion Straw polls: asking the same question of a large number of people They were unreliable because they did not necessarily include a cross section of the general population of the U.S. Political Ideologies Ideology: is a consistent set of beliefs Political ideology: is a set of beliefs about politics and public policy that creates the structure for looking at government and public policy Ideology: A Political Spectrum 1. Radical: favors rapid, fundamental change in existing social economic, or political order; may be willing to resort to extreme means, even violence or revolution to accomplish such change (extreme change to create an entirely new social system) 2. Liberal: supports active government in promoting individual welfare and supporting civil rights, and accepts peaceful political and social change within the existing political system 3. Moderate: political ideology that falls between liberal and conservative and which may include some of both; usually thought of as tolerant of others' political opinions and not likely to hold extreme views on issues 4. Conservative: promotes a limited governmental role in helping individuals economically, supports traditional values and lifestyles, favors a more active role for government in promoting national security, and approaches change cautiously 5. Reactionary: advocates a return to a previous state of affairs, often a social order or government that existed earlier in history (may be willing to go to extremes to achieve their goals) Public Opinion and the Mass Media Public opinion is shaped by an individual's political culture and political socialization. Mass Media refers to all form of communication that transmits information to the general public.

Although the mass media are the only means of communication between citizens and government (political parties, interest groups, and voting are other means), they are only linkage mechanism that specializes in communication. Mass media are privately owned by the United States Types (examples): newspapers, magazines, radio, television and internet Roles: [1] informing the public, [2] shaping public opinion, [3] providing a link between citizens and government, [4] serving sd s watchdog that investigates and examines personalities and governmental policies, and [5] agenda setting.