CHAPTER SIx • PublIC OPInIOn, POlITICAl SOCIAlIzATIOn, And THE MEdIA 117
Public Opinion
The aggregate of
individual attitudes or
beliefs shared by some
portion of the adult
population.
Consensus
General agreement among
the citizenry on an issue.
Divided Opinion
Public opinion that is
polarized between two
quite different positions.
Political Socialization
The process by which
people acquire political
beliefs and values.ion. As a result of earlier political decisions, America faced what became known as the
“fiscal cliff.” If nothing were done, the nation would experience considerable tax increases
and serious cuts in federal expenditures. The impact on the economy was expected to
be dire. Obama and the Republicans escaped popular blame for such an outcome with
a compromise that raised taxes on those with incomes above $400,000 and made minor
cuts to federal spending. Major issues remained unresolved, however. Public opinion was
certain to shape the resolution of future tax and spending issues.
There is no doubt that public opinion can be powerful. The extent to which public
opinion affects policymaking is not always so clear, however. For example, suppose that
public opinion strongly supports a certain policy. If political leaders adopt that position, is
it because they are responding to public opinion or because they share the public’s beliefs?
Also, political leaders themselves can shape public opinion to a degree.Public Opinion and Political Socialization
There is no single public opinion, because there are many different “publics.” In a nation
of more than 315 million people, there may be innumerable gradations of opinion on an
issue. What we do is describe the distribution of opinions about a particular question.
Thus, we define public opinion as the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared
by some portion of the adult population.Consensus and Divided Opinion
Typically, public opinion is distributed among several different positions, and the distribu-
tion of opinion can tell us how divided the public is on an issue and whether compromise
is possible. When polls show that a large proportion of the American public appears to
express the same view on an issue, we say that a consensus exists, at least at the moment
the poll was taken. Figure 6–1 on the next page shows a pattern of opinion that might
be called consensual. Issues on which the public holds widely differing attitudes result in
divided opinion (see Figure 6–2 on the following page). Sometimes, a poll shows a dis-
tribution of opinion indicating that most Americans either have no information about the
issue or do not care enough about the issue to formulate a position.
An interesting question arises as to when private opinion becomes public opinion.
Everyone probably has a private opinion about the competence of the president, as well as
private opinions about more personal concerns, such as the state of a neighbor’s lawn. We
say that private opinion becomes public opinion when the opinion is publicly expressed
and concerns public issues. When someone’s private opinion becomes so strong that the
individual is willing to take action, then the opinion becomes public opinion. Many kinds
of action are possible. An individual may go to the polls to vote for or against a candidate
or an issue, participate in a demonstration, discuss the issue at work, speak out online, or
participate in the political process in any one of a dozen other ways.Forming Public Opinion: Political Socialization
Most Americans are willing to express opinions on political issues when asked. How do
people acquire these opinions and attitudes? Typically, views that are expressed as political
opinions are acquired through the process of political socialization. By this, we meanLO1: Define public opinion,
consensus opinion, and divided
opinion, and discuss major sources
of political socialization, including
the family, schools, the media, and
political events.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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