American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

156 CHAPTER 5|PUBLIC OPINION AND THE MEDIA

d) their personality traits
e) politicians

4. The idea that individuals will rely on others who “look
   like” them for opinions relates to __.
   a) political socialization
   b) group identity
   c) political events
   d) generational eff ects
   e) generational eff ects


5. Which phrase best completes the following statement
   regarding the sources of public opinion? “Politicians

S PRACTICE ONLINE

“Critical Thinking ” exercise: Politics Is Everywhere—

State Opinions and the Election

and other political actors work to ______________

public opinion.”

a) respond to

b) ignore

c) disregard

d) stabilize

e) shape

MEASURING PUBLIC OPINION

E Describe basic survey methods and potential issues aff ecting accuracy. Pages 134–38

SUMMARY

Most information on public opinion comes from mass sur-
veys involving hundreds or thousands of respondents. The
accuracy of surveys is infl uenced by several factors, includ-
ing the size of the sample and whether the people in the
sample are randomly selected. Using a randomly selected
sample, researchers can draw conclusions about public
opinion across the American population.

KEY TERMS

mass survey (p. 135)

population (p. 135)

sample (p. 135)

sampling error (p. 136)

CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION

In light of the many problems with measuring public opin-
ion, how should you read survey results?

PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS

6. Why are random samples helpful in understanding
   public opinion?
   a) They provide deep insights into why people hold
   the views that they do.
   b) They eliminate people with strong ideological
   biases.

c) They enable researchers to use a small number of

respondents to draw conclusions about the entire

country.

d) It’s impossible to understand public opinion any

other way.

e) They restrict respondents to a few answer choices.

7. Which of the following is not a problem with survey
   data?
   a) It’s impossible to get a random sample.
   b) People often give the socially desirable answer to a
   question.
   c) Even a well constructed survey may have a
   sampling error that makes it diffi cult to say who is
   ahead in a close election.
   d) Question wording can infl uence survey responses.
   e) People may invent responses to avoid appearing
   uninformed.

S PRACTICE ONLINE

“Big Think” video exercise: Why Does Polling Matter?