Public Opinion

PLSC 313

Spring 2008

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: Tuesdays & Thursdays 8am - 9am and 1:30pm - 2:30pm, and 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.

Goals

At the end of the course, the students should be able to answer the following questions: What does the fractious and malleable nature of public opinion 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?

Course Requirements

Grades will be calculated using the following formula:

Midterm

Exam: 25%

Final Exam: 25% 3pm Thursday, May 1

Group

Project: 20%

Poll

Paper: 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.

Group Project

You will be assigned to a group which will make a class presentation regarding the background, trends, and and current status of American public opinion for a randomly selected issue (I will randomly assign the issue to the group).  Presentations should be approximately 10 – 15 minutes and should be multi-media in nature.  Further details will be discussed in class.  Presentations will occur the week of April 14 - 18.

Poll Paper

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 or working a specific number of caller shifts) and a 5 – 7 page paper where you discuss your polling experiences and relate the overall experience back to the readings from the section titled, “Measuring Public Opinion.” (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) You may required to work weekend “shifts” during this time period in order to achieve your required number of completions.

The Polling Paper is due by the beginning of class Tuesday, March 4th.  Papers will be penalized one full letter grade if it is not received by the beginning of class on the due data AND one full letter grade for each day late it is received thereafter. (What matters is when I get the paper....not when you slide it under my door...give it to the Administrative Specialist....put it in my departmental mailbox...)

Why do we do a poll? The answer to this question is two-fold: (1) as noted above, the primary way to gauge public opinion is through survey research. This is a wonderful way to get real world, hands-on survey research experience. When you talk about measuring public opinion in the future, you will speak from experience. (2) as an institution, Winthrop is committed to Service Learning. This is the integration of community service and learning. In doing the poll, not only are you learning valuable lessons and skills, you are also serving the community. I am a firm believer that each of us has a duty as a citizen to serve her or his community. We use these polls to serve the community by providing local organizations and government with valuable information. These are real surveys and the results have real policy implications.

PLSC 313: Public Opinion fulfills the University’s  a number of Winthrop’s General Education program goals:  Specifically, goals 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 7.1, & 7.2  For more information of General Education Goals, go to:  http://www.winthrop.edu/universitycollege/GenEd/GNED%20Goals.htm

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! If you are not on the class listserv, go HERE for instructions on how to sign up (the course designator to sign up is: PLSC313001).

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)

All other readings will be on a password protected site that may be found here: PLSC 313 Readings

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.  Additionally, I reserve the right to award the student an "F" in the course for ANY act of academic misconduct if I feel it is warranted.  This is in addition to academic prosecution by the Dean of Students.

**ADDITIONALLY, the Department of Political Science has it's own policies on plagiarism and academic misconduct: Poli Sci Statement on Plagiarism In the immortal words of Brad Hamilton: "Learn it; Know it; Live it!"**

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) RAS Model

►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

► Alvarez and Brehm – Abortion
► Alvarez and Brehm – IRS
► Alvarez and Brehm -- Race

The Dumbing Down of America

Opinion Formation I: Socialization

►E&T Chpt. 5

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

►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)

►Barth, Overby, & Huffmon: "Community Context, Personal Contact, andSupport for an Anti-Gay Rights Referendum"

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

►E&T Chpt. 9

►White, Huffmon, & Martin: “Split decision in the 1996 elections: A Democratic presidency and a Republican Congress.” (from March/April 1998 Votes & Opinions)

Extra Credit

Buy a journal (the black & white type). Take at least one journal page worth of notes on each individual reading / chapter we cover in class. You will be awarded extra points on your final exam based on the total number of readings for which you have taken notes. I will be checking journals to tally points regularly throughout the semester. As an added incentive, you will be allowed to use your notes from these journals during quizzes.

http://nonverbal.ucsc.edu/gest.html