132 CHAPTER 5|PUBLIC OPINION AND THE MEDIA
support for Republican candidates by people who live in suburbs
and those with strong religious beliefs.^37
Table 5.1 reports data on the variation in opinions across diff er-
ent groups of Americans. These data reveal two important facts
about group affi liations and public opinion. First, there are sharp
diff erences among groups on some questions. For example, people
of diff erent education levels tended to respond very diff erently to
the question about interpreting the Bible literally. Second, in some
respects the data show considerable consensus. There is little vari-
ation between men and women on the role of women in politics,
although relatively sharp regional and educational diff erences are
apparent. Moreover, no one group holds strong views on all three
issues. For example, opinions on the Bible vary with respondents’
education level, but this characteristic shows only a weak correla-
tion with respondents’ opinions about income redistribution.
These data indicate that group characteristics can be important
predictors of some of an individual’s opinions, but they are not the
whole story.^38 Americans’ opinions are a product of their socializa-
tion and life experiences as well as their group characteristics.Politicians and Other Political Actors
Opinions and changes in opinion are also subject to infl uence by
politicians and other political actors (such as political parties
and party leaders, interest groups, and leaders of religious, civic,
and other large organizations). In part, this link exists because
Americans look to these individuals for information due to their
presumed expertise. For example, if you do not know what to think about health
care reform, you might seek out someone who knows more about the issues than
you do; if her opinions seem reasonable, you might adopt them as your own.^39
Of course, most people only take account of an expert’s opinions when they gener-
ally agree with the expert—perhaps because they hold matching conservative or
liberal views, or because they have some other basis for thinking their preferences
match the expert’s.
Politicians and other political actors also work to shape public opinion. Some
political scientists argue that politicians describe proposals through arguments and
images desig ned to tap the public’s strong opinions, with the goa l of winning suppor t
for these proposals.^40 While President Obama and his staff expended much eff ort to
promote health care reform, giving dozens of speeches, holding rallies, and briefi ng
legislators, opponents managed to shape many Americans’ opinions by making dire
pronouncements of the proposal’s potentially negative outcomes.^41 Even though
health care reform was eventually enacted, these opposition eff orts turned initial
majority public support into a dead heat and very nearly defeated the proposal.
In sum, public opinion at the individual level is driven by many factors—so many
that it is often diffi cult to explain why an individual holds one belief rather than
another. This diffi culty partly explains why, when interpreting pubic opinion data,
political scientists often focus on average opinions for groups or for the entire nation.POLITICIANS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE
debate tried to infl uence public
opinion about health care reform.
While Obama and the Democrats
sought to convince Americans
that the new plan was necessary,
opponents played up the possible
disadvantages, with references to
“death panels” and other dangers.