Public Opinion Analysis

In Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice, Rosalee Clawson and Zoe Oxley interpret public opinion as an individual’s beliefs and preferences in regards to all governmental matters and policies.(424) These individual ideas collectively are viewed as the overall populations opinions summarized and can be reflected by a poll. By collecting these opinions through the polling process, lawmakers are likely to take these opinions into consideration when creating and/or regulating a policy.
In 1824 The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper conducted one such poll where the readers were asked to return a postcard with their opinion about the presidential candidates; Andrew Jackson or John Quincy Adams. Jackson won the poll as well as
(John, 2014) Conservatives are ideologically defined by their strict adherence to traditional values and practices as well as their support for little to no governmental regulation and their emphasis on individual citizens taking personal responsibility. Liberals are alternatively defined by their belief that the government should be active in the regulation of the people in order to protect the citizens from the possibility of unequal and discriminatory actions. (Rosalee & Zoe, p134) Liberals are also recognized by their beliefs in the overall equality of citizens, protection of liberties and progressive thinking that is based on the idea that there is overall an essential goodness to the mass populous. While there are vast differences between these opposing sides, it is possible to see how a person may agree with a conservative view of government while simultaneously believing in the humanist attributes of the liberal
Erikson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011
Rosalee A. Clawson and Zoe M. Oxley, Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice. Washington D.C., 2013
The University of Texas at Austin. “Biased Sampling and Extrapolation.” Last modified August 28, 2012. https://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/biasedsampling.html
Pelin Kesebir, Erik Phillips, Jackie Anson, Tom Pyszczynski, Matt Motyl, “Ideological Consistency across the Political Spectrum: Liberals are More Consistent but Conservatives Become More Consistent When Coping with Existential Threat” (February 11, 2013). http://ssrn.com/abstract=2215306 John Sides, “Why Most Conservatives are Secretly Liberals,” The Washington Post, March 6, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/why-most-conservatives-are-secretly-liberals/ Gallup-a. “Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S.” Last modified January 12, 2012. http://www.gallup.com/poll/152021/conservatives-remain-largest-ideological-group.aspx Gallup-b. “Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White” Last modified February 8,