Public Opinion

PLSC 313

Fall 2005

Instructor: Dr. Scott Huffmon

Office: 344 Bancroft

Phone #: ext. 4669 (323-4669 from off campus)

email: huffmons@winthrop.edu

Web Page: http://faculty.winthrop.edu/huffmons/

Office Hours: Wednesday 8am-10am & by appointment

Description

At the heart of a representative democracy lies the transmission of the will of the citizenry to the government. In order to have a full understanding of the shape of government and the choices made by the citizens, we must first comprehend what the “public will” is and how it is formed. The truth about American public opinion is that it is often fractious and malleable. What does this mean for our democracy? How do Americans form opinions? How do Americans process information to create our political evaluations? How is American public opinion measured? What is the role of the media with respect to our opinions? These are just a few of the questions we will address in our quest to better understand American public opinion.

Course Requirements

Grades will be calculated using the following formula:

Midterm

Exam: 25%

Final Exam: 25%

Paper: 20%

Poll: 20%

Quizzes: 10%

Material for the exams will be drawn from readings, lectures, and class discussions. Make up exams must be scheduled two weeks in advance in the case of an unavoidable planned absence; otherwise, make ups will be given only in the case of a documented illness or emergency. “Documented” means a legitimate doctor’s note dating from prior to the exam. Any student health center note describing vague symptoms dated the day of or after the exam will not be acceptable.

Paper

You must write a 5 – 7 page paper (double-spaced with 1 inch margins and a font approximately the size of this one [12 pt Times New Roman], there will be no “headers,” you will use a title page [not counted toward total number of pages], bottom-center pagination, and an upper left-hand corner staple [no “paper covers”]…these are the basic “rules” of the paper; failure to follow any of these precepts will result in an automatic deduction of one full letter grade). After we cover the section titled “Is the American Public Stupid? Understanding Uncertainty and Inconsistency in Public Opinion” in class, you will be randomly assigned one chapter from chapters 5 – 9 in the Alvarez and Brehm book. You will write a critical analysis of that chapter including a description of the research contained therein and how the assertions of that chapter fit into the theoretical framework presented in chapters 1 – 4 of the Alvarez and Brehm book.

Poll

The primary way we measure public opinion in America is through polling. The class will be conducting a telephone poll. Your grade on this will be based on your overall contribution to the completion of the project (including achieving a minimum number of completions) and a 4 – 6 page paper where you discuss your polling experiences and relate the overall experience back to the readings from the section titled, “Measuring Public Opinion.” The rules to this paper are the same as those noted above. You will be required to work evening and weekend “shifts” during this time period in order to achieve your required number of completions—there is NO daytime calling during the work week.

Class announcements will be made via the class listserv. If you have an active winthrop.edu email account, you should be automatically added to the listserv, otherwise you must add yourself to the listserv. You are EXPECTED to regularly check your email for class announcements!

This syllabus may be revised throughout the semester.

Students with Disabilities

Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and need accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your Professor Notification Form, please tell me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before the first {test/paper/assignment}.

Required Texts

Erikson, Robert S. and Kent L. Tedin. 2005 "American Public Opinion" Seventh
Edition. New York: Longman Publishers. (denoted “E&T” on the reading list)

Alvarez, R. Michael and John Brehm. 2002. "Hard Choices, Easy Answers." Princeton:
Princeton University Press

Reading packet that may be purchased at

Some readings will be on reserve at Dacus Library

Academic Misconduct

Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Winthrop’s Conduct Code defines academic misconduct as:

Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the professor in the creation of work to be submitted for academic evaluation including papers, projects, and examinations; presenting, as one's own, the ideas or words of another for academic evaluation without proper acknowledgment; doing unauthorized academic work for which another person will receive credit or be evaluated; and presenting the same or substantially the same papers or projects in two or more courses without the explicit permission of the professors involved. In addition, academic misconduct involves attempting to influence one's academic evaluation by means other than academic achievement or merit. More explicit definitions of academic misconduct specific to certain academic disciplines may be promulgated by academic departments and schools.

I will prosecute cases of academic misconduct to the fullest extent of university policy, and that can mean expulsion from the university. Obviously, any student caught cheating or plagiarizing, in any manner, on an exam or assignment will receive a zero for that assignment in addition to academic prosecution.

Topics and Readings

Introduction to Public Opinion

►E&T Chpt. 1

►Zaller: “Information, predispositions, and opinion” (chpt. 2 from The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion)

Measuring Public Opinion

►E&T Chpt. 2

►Zaller: “Making it up as you go along” (chpt. 5 from The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion)

►Oldendick & Bardes: “How public opinion data are used” (chpt 3 from Public Opinion: Measuring the American Mind)

►Oldendick & Bardes: “How are opinions measured” (chpt 4 from Public Opinion: Measuring the American Mind)

►Lawrence: “Sophistication”

Is the American Public Stupid?

Understanding Uncertainty and Inconsistency in Public Opinion

►Hard Choices, Easy Answers, by Alvarez and Brehm

Chapters 1-4

Opinion Formation I: Socialization

►E&T Chpt. 5

►Sears & Levy: “Childhood and adult political development” (from Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology)

►Huffmon, Gentry, & Lawrence: “Rock & Roll Will Never Die?: A discussion of the seeming failure of Rock The Vote” (paper presented at the 2003 American Political Science Association)

Opinion Formation II: Creation of Opinions and Evaluations

►Lau: “Models of decision making” (from Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology)

►Rahn, Aldrich, Borgida, & Sullivan: “A Social-Cognitive Model of Candidate Appraisal” (from Information and Democratic Processes)

►Rahn, Aldrich, & Borgida: “Individual and Contextual Variations in Political Candidate Appraisal” (from March 1994 American Political Science Review)

►Huffmon: “Revisiting the Role of Information Format in Candidate Evaluation: An ‘Update’ Model of Evaluation” (from 2003 Journal of Political Science)

►Masters & Sullivan: “Nonverbal behavior and leadership: Emotion and cognition in political information processing” (chpt. 6 from Explorations in Political Psychology)

►Gilens: “Political ignorance and collective policy preferences” (from June 2001 American Political Science Review)

Trends in Public Opinion

►E&T Chpt. 4

►Page & Shapiro: “Opinions about social issues” (chpt. 3 from The Rational Public)

The Media and Public Opinion

►E&T Chpt. 8

►Zaller: “The myth of massive media impact revived: New support for a discredited idea.” (chpt 2 from Political Persuasion and Attitude Change)

►Miller & Krosnick: “News media impact on the ingredients of presidential evaluations: A program of research on the priming hypothesis” (chpt 3 from Political Persuasion and Attitude Change)

The Opinion Connection: The Public and its Leaders

►E&T Chpt 10

►Kuklinski & Hurley: “It’s a matter of interpretation” (Chpt. 5 from Political Persuasion and Attitude Change)

The Electoral Connection