Definition & Measurement
An aggregate measure of the beliefs, attitudes, judgments, and/or preferences of a population over matters of public concern.
Public opinion
A question worded so that it pushes the respondent toward one side of an argument.
A leading question
The small group of people actually questioned in a poll, drawn from the larger population (today usually 500 to 1,500 people).
A sample
26. The process by which our social environment leads us to develop attitudes, values, beliefs, and identities that shape our orientation toward government and politics.
Political socialization
Information shortcuts people use to guess or infer what their opinion would be if they had time to become better informed.
Heuristics
The specific group of people whose opinions are being referred to when discussing public opinion (e.g., all voting-age citizens, all American voters, all Georgia residents).
Population
The phenomenon in which people support a cause or candidate simply because polls show it is already popular.
The bandwagon effect
A sample that proportionately reflects the relevant diversity of opinions in the population from which it is drawn.
A representative sample
Those who have a formative influence on our political attitudes, values, and identities — chiefly family, school, peer groups, and religious institutions.
Agents of political socialization
The view that a representative's first duty is to follow the opinions and preferences of their constituents.
The delegate model of representation
Something that is relevant for government, politics, and/or public policy (e.g., going to war or protecting free speech), as opposed to private consumer preferences.
Matter of Public Concern
The tendency of respondents to answer inaccurately in order to present themselves in the best possible light, especially on sensitive topics.
Social desirability bias
A statistic expressing the range of precision around a poll estimate
Margin of error (+/-3 or 95% Confidence)
The first and most influential agent of socialization, and the strongest influence on a child's party identification.
Family
The theory that the typical citizen knows little about politics because they have little personal gain from investing the time and effort to become informed.
Rational ignorance
The small subset of individuals drawn from a population who are actually questioned in a poll (today typically 500 to 1,500 people).
Sample
A question that asks about more than one issue but allows only a single answer, so respondents cannot express separate views.
A double-barreled question
Error that occurs when the group targeted for a sample is not representative of the population
Selection bias
A person's attachment to one of the two major parties, which strongly shapes how they take in and interpret political information.
Party identification
The view that a representative should act on their own best judgment of what is just or promotes the public good, even if it is unpopular.
The trustee model of representation
A set of questions posed to a small subset of individuals drawn from a population in order to estimate the opinions of that population.
An opinion poll (poll)
Changes in poll responses caused by the sequence in which questions are asked
Ordering effects
A type of probability sampling in which every person in the population has an equal likelihood of being selected.
Random selection
The four main agents of political socialization that have the strongest formative influence on our political attitudes.
Family, school, peer groups, and religious institutions
A common heuristic in which a voter uses a candidate's party identification to decide how to vote or whose statements to trust.
Using partisanship as a cue (a party cue)