GOV 310L Lecture 17: Public Opinion (II) 26.10.2017
Document Summary
How do we think of ourselves: female/male. Why: social media, polarization, more channels to get informed. Over time there has been a strong tendency for issues to become politicalized: abortion, global warning/climate change, gun control. Survey asking whether economy is doing good or poorly. Economy are facts but we politicize it depending on who is in government. We don"t like thinking that our team is doing poorly. Heuristic give us shortcuts when making decisions; we just rely on branding. In 1960"s, it appears that many people do not really have coherent ideologies. It also looks as though a lot of people are just making up their opinion on the spot: non-attitude. Americans lack political knowledge: two thirds of american adults cannot name the chief justice of the supreme court. Rational ignorance: we are busy people. Therefore, we prefer to invest out time in other things rather than in politics. Most individuals have very little political knowledge and inconsistent opinions.
