POLI 111: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Session 1-Public Opinion And Participation Lecturer: Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darkoh, Department of Political Science Contact Information: aggreydarkoh@ug.edu.gh
Session Overview The previous sessions have given us a firm background of the concept of political participation In this session we take a critical look at public opinion and political participation since it is one of the ways by which citizens express their opinions about the political system and its processes Thus, in this session, our emphasis is going to be on what is public opinion is and its role in a state
Session Outline This session addresses two major topics: Defining Public Opinion Polling
Topic One DEFINING PUBLIC OPINION
Reading List Chapter 11 of Magstadt T.M. & Schotten P. M. (1996). Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues. New York: St. Martin s Press. Pg. 279-282 Chapter 8 of Roskin M.G. et. al. (1991). Political Science: An Introduction 4th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International Inc., 1991). Pg. 150-171
Public opinion consists of those opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed (Key, 1961: 14)
Public Opinion Defined As stated elsewhere in this course, political culture and public opinion are closely linked They are generally formed through the same influences, and they merge together in a way that makes it very difficult to judge where one leaves off and the other begins It must, however be noted that just as public opinion is not synonymous with political culture, it is not to be confused with individual opinion Public opinion refers to political and social issues, not private matters of taste
Public Opinion Defined (cont d) According to Berry et al (2008), public opinion is simply the collective attitude of the citizens on a given issue in question It is an implicit verbal response or answer that an individual gives in reply to a particular stimulus in which some general question is raised. Thomas Magstadt and Peter Schotten (1996) also define public opinion as the aggregate of citizen preferences and judgments that influence the decisions and policies of government officials In democratic states, public opinion obtains legitimacy from the fact that government is responsible to those who elected it Public opinion derives its urgency from the fervent desire of most representatives and aspiring candidates to be elected
Public Opinion Defined (cont d) Public opinion does not necessarily imply a strong, clear, united conviction of the masses There are subjects on which the majority of the people are united in their opinion, and when that is the case, public opinion has mighty force indeed In most cases, public opinion involves several groups of people, each group s views in conflict with those of the other groups, plus a large number who are undecided, plus an even larger number with no opinion at all on the matter On most subjects, public opinion is an array of diverse ideas and attitudes concerning political and social issues that can change fairly quickly Public opinion differs from mere opinion in that the former must involve a judgment that has some bearing on the direction of public policy
Public Opinion Defined (cont d) In a democracy, public opinion is so universally held and sharply defined that elected officials cannot ignore or contradict it and successfully govern at the same time In most cases, public opinion comprises a mood of dissatisfaction, anxiety, or approval regarding some issues of national importance Even though public opinion provides the context within which political leaders take decision, it rarely dictates the content of those decisions
Public Opinion Defined (cont d) Regarding most issues, measuring public opinion and gauging its influence can be very difficult and elusive. In democracies, five basic generalizations can usually hold: that a significant number of citizens actually hold preferences regarding particular issues and are not simply indifferent to them that is stable or has remained relatively fixed over a long period of time that it is unevenly distributed or lopsided in a particular direction that it is intensely felt by citizens it is salient, meaning that citizens regard the issue or policy in question as important compared to others
Public Opinion Defined (cont d) The most vexed question that arises regarding public opinion is the extent to which public leaders ought to be dependent on citizen opinion when making important policy decisions Such a concern is heightened by the realization that in a democracy, public opinion often is less the result of rational judgment and more of a collection of feelings, guesses, and emotions made on the basis of very scanty information
Factors that Shape Public Opinion Public opinion is usually shaped by factors such as: educational background of individuals religion and region of origin age gender ethnic group
Factors that Shape Public Opinion (cont d) It is argued that public opinion arises in response to specific issues and develops in the following manner: An issue is injected into society by some concrete social event, like the presentation of a new VAT bill The event stirs interest and discussion among primary groups An opinion leader emerges and his ideas become the focal point for discussion on the issue The ideas are simplified and generalized, and in this form are transmitted to other parts of the society, leading to widespread and general discussion of the matter
Factors that Shape Public Opinion (cont d) Attitudes toward the issue are formed, mainly from contact with others, and are heavily influenced by the expectations individuals hold about the behavior of others These attitudes are adjusted in the light of experience until they reinforce the original expectations, leading to strong feelings about the issue Action occurs, based on the expectations and attitudes that have been mobilized in this way Public opinion then dissipates
The Role of Public Opinion The role of public opinion is very difficult to define. In a democracy, elections provide formal means of popular control of government, but only very crude expression of public opinion An election can only register the verdict of the voters on an official s overall performance; rarely is one issue so important that an election rides on its alone If opinion is running in one direction, it is rare that legislators and political generally will ignore it, so in this case public opinion provides some control
The Role of Public Opinion (cont d) In many cases, public opinion is created, not followed, by the executive If elections provide only a foggy outlet for public opinion, and executives often lead rather than follow the will of the people, the more direct participation of interest groups, by the concerned citizens or lobbyists, often allows opinions to be expressed in crystal-clear terms In democracies, which provides freedom of expression and dissent in bold and dramatic form, strategies for bringing grievances to public attention can be very effective in exciting wide-spread sympathy for minorities who are denied certain rights
The Role of Public Opinion (cont d) In nondemocratic states where dissent is frown upon, the effective mobilization of public opinion against the government can bring it down Mahatma Gandhi s resort to non-violent means helped him mobilize public opinion to win independence for India Any government that resort to the excessive use of force will certainly be toppled if public opinion is mobilized against it
Topic Two POLLING
Opinion Polling All governments make some effort to assess and analyz public opinion. In democratic states, public opinion on a variety of issues is gauged and discussed freely, and efforts to identify the majority opinion on any particular issue are undertaken not only by public agencies but als by political parties and candidates, the media, various private organizations, universities, research institutes, and scholars Any effort to gauge the attitude of the public by means of a representative sample is called a survey or poll Published polls, particularly in election years, are prominent in today s political landscape
Opinion Polling (cont d) To determine how the public stands on a given issue, organizations rely on public opinion polling (canvassing citizens for their opinions) This has become the most popular and accurate means of defining and charting changes in public opinion The ubiquity of opinion polling serves as a testament to their usefulness to policymakers and candidates alike
Opinion Polling (cont d) In developed democracies, public opinion polling has grown increasingly sophisticated Most polls ask individuals whether they approve or oppose of a statement or policy Some polls ask citizens to identify their preferences from among various policy alternatives Through such polling techniques, researchers predict the actions of a large population based on the answers given by a relatively small number of respondents
Techniques of Opinion Polls The cheapest method is to mail out ballots to a sample and tally the replies, but invariably, the people who are involved enough to make the effort to reply will not be representative of the sample Telephone polling can avoid this problem, but it rarely establishes sufficient rapport to obtain really candid replies The most dependable method is still the costly face-to-face interview For reliable results, the interviewers should be carefully selected and trained But even this method has its own drawbacks Because it is costly, it often puts pressure on the pollster to make do with minimum number of interviewees
Techniques of Opinion Polls (cont d) In the preferred method of polling, a random sampling of citizens is taken from among the entire population (or universe) being polled It has been determined by statisticians that 1500 is an ideal number of respondents for polls involving large numbers of people
Techniques of Opinion Polls (cont d) The goal of public opinion survey is to get candid replies from a representative sample at a minimum cost The problem of cost has still not been overcome since the least expensive methods still tend to be the least accurate
Importance of Public Opinion Polling Opinion polls contribute to the democratic process in several ways They bring into the public realm the voices of the people who would otherwise be unheard They are the only form of participation (apart from the ballot box itself) in which all count for one and none for more than one Polls are also based on direct contact by interviewers with the public; they get behind the group leaders who claim to speak on behalf the members Polls enable politicians to keep in touch with the popular mood and polls give some insight into the reasons for election results
Importance of Public Opinion Polling (cont d) In election campaigns, polling has become future oriented, used largely to determine what positions candidates ought to take, or how positions are to be advanced, or what political advertisement will project positive candidate images Opinion polls can also help to measure the popularity of a president and determine how much political influence the chief executive can wield on a wide range of political issues In short, opinion polls oil the wheels of democracy
Limitations of Opinion Polling Opinion polls construct, and even shape public opinion at the same time as they measure it Polls may also be inaccurate because of lack of candor on the part of some respondents Even though most polls are premised on anonymity, voters for instance may not always respond truthfully about how they intend to vote especially if they believe that their preferred candidate may be perceived as unpopular or irresponsible
Limitations of Opinion Polling (cont d) A major limitation of polls, especially for election forecasting, is the unpredictability of voter turnout Public opinion is also very volatile in the sense that it is able to change quickly under the impact of events. In short, nothing is permanent in public opinion; volatility must therefore be taken into account Finally, a survey that is accurate in its overall results cannot assure the same degree of reliability when broken down into finer categories To get accurate reading, the sample must be large enough to average out any quirks