Public Opinion and the Media

I.                   Shaping Public Opinion

1. Popular rule—the Constitution, of course, was meant to be a brake on popular rule. The expectation was that the diverse population in the United States would also act to tamp down popular rule, since various groups would need to compete—and cooperate—with each other to achieve their goals
2. What Is Public Opinion?—Being able to discern the opinion of the public is more difficult than many poll takers would have you believe. Although we are inundated with public opinion polls that seem to tell us exactly what Americans are thinking, these polls only can only tell us how the people asked feel about the question at the time they are asked. This is not to imply that these polls are useless, because they obviously are quite valuable—but mainly for judging how people feel about a particular, fairly simple issue.
3. Role of Political Activists—Most people give little concern about politics. Political elites (political operatives, pundits, candidates, etc.) think a lot about politics, and think differently about it—and it is they who largely control the whole process.
4. Free Press—In the United States, the press (including all media) operates independently of the government, and often as an adversary. This relationship, along with the propensity of government officials to “leak” selected and passage in 1966 of the Freedom of Information Act, have made the United States government extremely transparent—and, from a governing perspective, made it very difficult to maintain secrets.
5. Distrust of the Government—Many Americans express a distrust of their government (a distrust and frustration that is growing today). The reasons for this are various, and will be examined in greater detail below. But it should be noted that the current unhappiness with government is in part caused by the comparison to the 1950s and early 1960s, an economically prosperous time for many in the United States. The growing dissatisfaction is also effected by the economic struggles the country has experienced since the latter part of the 1960s.

1. Vietnam—the seeming lack of success during the war, and the revelations that the government misled the American people at nearly every turn—in regard to the execution of the war, as well as the reason for US involvement—created a great deal of distrust of the government.
2. Watergate—While Richard M. Nixon contributed to the distrust created during the Vietnam War (the secret invasion of Cambodia, the Christmas bombing of Hanoi, etc.), it was the Watergate scandal that is his greatest political legacy. The cover-up of a third-rate burglary brought down his administration, after one of the largest margins of victory in a Presidential election in US history in the 1972 election.
3. The “Outsider” candidate—politicians, after Watergate, began to present themselves as “Washington outsiders” to make themselves more attractive to the American people; Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, both Bill Clinton and businessman Ross Perot both ran as “outsider” candidates in 1992 (only Perot was an outsider in 1996), Ralph Nader and George W. Bush (the son of a president!!) both presented themselves as political outsiders in 2000.
4. The Impeachment of Bill Clinton—although Clinton was certainly guilty of lying under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, most Americans did not consider it an impeachable offense, and Republican insistence on pursuing impeachment—even after two Republican Speakers of the House had to resign over their involvement in similar extra-marital affairs—certainly undermined their case.
5. The Iraq War—Revelations that much of the information used to convince the American people that the Iraq war was tied to Saddam Hussein’s possession of “weapon of mass destruction” proved to be false is the most recent instance of the government engendering mistrust of the American people.

6. The Origins of Political Attitudes

1. The Role of the Family—Party identification is largely inculcated within the family—if your parents identified as Republicans, then it is likely that you identify as a Republican, also. This is not meant to imply that you adopt their entire political outlook without question, but that the values you are taught while growing up will be shaped by them. Many more people today declare themselves “political independents”—which in practice means that they pay little attention to politics outside of election cycles.
2. Effects of Religion—Because religious involvement is largely a moral commitment, it is not surprising that born-again or evangelical Christians differ from other voters on issues that deal with questions of morality.
3. Education—generally, the more education a person has, the more likely they are to hold liberal political views. This is even more true for those people who hold advanced degrees in the humanities and social sciences.
4. The Gender Gap—During the 1950s, women were more likely than men to vote Republican, in large part because Republicans had historically backed issues important to women—gun control and Prohibition. Today, women are more likely than men to vote Democratic, because of the anti-war perception many people have of the present Democratic Party, among other issues.

7. Cleavages in Public Opinion

1. Occupation—Although recent evidence suggests that occupation is becoming less of a factor for the divergence of public opinion, it remains an important factor. The most recent example of this would be the opposition to Senate Bill 5 in Ohio, with opposition coming from the still-substantial union member households.
2. Race—While occupation has become less important in explaining diverging public opinion, race has become a more important factor. Black have become the most consistently liberal group within the Democratic Party. Not surprisingly, blacks consistently support the extension of civil rights protections. While a majority of black believe themselves to be better off than they were 10 years ago, and that their children will lead better lives than themselves, better-off blacks are more likely to express skepticism about American society, and to report that they have experienced discrimination.

3. Region—With the divisive experience of the Civil Rights era, the (white) South has become a reliably Republican region, whereas historically (into the 1980s, in fact) it was a reliably Democratic region. Because these new Republicans also tended to belong to evangelical churches, the Republican Party has become much more conservative on social issues—anti-choice, anti-gay, promoting “family values,” etc.

8. Political Ideology—most people do not identify with the two main branches of political ideology, conservative or liberal, in part because most people do not approach politics with a rational attitude—they do not have a coherent and consistent set of beliefs that guide them in deciding which programs to support.

1. Consistent Attitudes—What constitutes consistency is very much in the eye of the beholder. While most people probably like to think that they have a consistent attitude toward issues, their own personal experience often impedes that process.
2. Activists—Are much more likely to think in ideological terms and to take “consistent” positions on various issues—largely because they are most often called upon to give reasons for the positions that they take.
3. Various Categories of Opinion—In the political realm, categories of opinion can be divided into three convenient categories:

                                                              i.      Economy

                                                            ii.      Civil Rights

                                                          iii.      Personal Conduct

4. Analyzing Consistency—Although this is an extreme simplification of what is generally a very complex thought process, the following labels are useful in discerning one’s stand on a particular issue

                                                              i.      Liberals—Pure liberals take liberal stances on both economic and social issues—they advocate a bigger role for government in the economic sphere, more taxation of the wealthy, and are more tolerant of behavior considered outside of the norm.

                                                            ii.      Conservatives—Pure conservatives, on the other hand, are conservative on both economic and social issues—they believe in smaller government, less taxation, and are less tolerant of behavior considered outside of the norm.

                                                          iii.      Libertarians—Tend to be conservative on economic issued, while tolerant of behavior outside of the norm.

                                                          iv.      Populists—Tend to be liberal on economic issues, while being less tolerant of behavior outside of the norm.

9. The Impact of the Media—The changes that the media have undergone in the last eighty years have deeply affected the way it covers politics. In 1939, newspapers simply never ran a picture of President Franklin Roosevelt in a wheel chair (which is one reason why his portrayal at his new monument was so controversial), nor any word of his extra-marital affair was ever leaked; in the late 1990s, every detail of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewisnky was broadcast into American living rooms.
10. The Structure of the Media—Politicians attempt to use the media to their advantage, and at times the media returns the favor, using politicians to both inform and entertain their audience.

1. Degree of Competition—While newspapers have become less competitive (as their advertising dollars dry up), television stations competition has heated considerably. Although there is a growing centralization, must media is locally owned and operated, and still must cater to a local audience.
2. The National Media
3. The Internet and Political Blogs

11. Rules Governing the Media

1. Freedom of the Press
2. Regulation and Deregulation

12. Government and the New

1. Prominence of the President
2. Coverage of Congress

II.                Interpreting the News

1. Are News Stories Slanted?

1. Routine Stories
2. Feature Stories
3. Insider Stories

2. News Leaks
3. The Influence of Media Opinions on Opinion and Politics
4. The Influence of Politicians on the Media