Public opinion polls are a relatively recent development in politics to try and track American public opinion about particular issues.There are two major pollsters that are generally seen as conducting legitimate scientific polls and have gained credibility among most people for the accuracy (or at least representativeness) of their surveys. To get credit for this post you must perform the following tasks.
Go to Gallup and/or Rasmussen Reports and find a politically relevant poll (that no one else has used so far, this will be easy, there are literally hundreds of polls) that interests you. In the first line of your response, write the name of the site you accessed and the exact name of the poll you chose as it appears on the site, so no one else can choose it. Be sure to answer in reference to the particular poll you selected. I do not want to see generalizations or you will not receive credit. Answer the following questions:
a. Why did you pick this poll? How is this poll politically relevant?
b. What general concepts (the Constitution, freedom of speech, legitimacy, political parties, media, elections etc.) does this poll relate to in class? How might it help us better understand those concepts?
c. In a sentence or two, describe the main findings of the poll. Are the results of the poll surprising to you? Why or why not?
d. Is there any part of the poll that you would consider biased? (in how they ask the questions, how they present the results, research methods they used, etc.) Why do you consider it biased? If it is not biased, explain why you think so?
e. Why might politicians be interested in using these particular statistics from your specific poll? In what ways might it benefit their campaign strategies or voter outreach programs?
15 comments:
triSo I went to Gallup, just because I like the name better, and picked the poll “Nearly 3 in 10 Worldwide See Their Areas as Good for Gays.” I picked the poll for the sole reason that its at least somewhat relevant to me (generally best to know where I would be imprisoned and where I wouldn’t be), and being relevant it was less boring to sift through the statistics. However, I doubt the poll was conducted just so curious gays like myself could understand the global climate, and rather it seems that it would have chief political importance in how minorities are represented. If, for example, a country is overly oppressive towards homosexuality, the views of such people are less likely to be accounted for. Therefore it seems reasonable that a politician would at least be interested in the statistics concerning their country, as it would give insight into the social attitudes of the general public. Moreover, the poll can be directly linked to class in any of the following ways: the Constitutionality of gay marriage, the freedom of people to express their beliefs, the effectiveness of democracy in representing minority groups, and so on.
The main findings of the poll were basically Europe is awesome for gays, Africa not so much. However, on a more analytical note, it commented on the correlation between the wealth of nations and their treatment of homosexuality (and social issues more broadly), with the exceptions of countries such as the United States and China. I wouldn’t describe any part of this survey as particularly surprising — the economic elite are often the catalysts of social change. However, its hard to say whether this survey is without bias, although it’s clear that the statistics are probably a little high, for the sole fact that many more conservative countries were not polled. According to the poll, 28% of people claim that their area is a good place for gays — if more conservative countries were polled as well, I could see this number dropping greatly.
I went to Gallup, and the picked the poll "Trust in Federal Gov't on International Issues at New Low"
a. I picked this poll because I've heard in the radio and news lately how many people are upset at Obama right now and want to impeach him, sue him, etc., so this was more relevant to me personally than the other polls. It's politically relevant because it shows the people's response to how the government is performing on international and domestic issues
b. This poll relates to concepts like political parties (It also graphed trust in international issues based on political parties), foreign policy, domestic policy, elections, etc. It might help us better understand these concepts because we can see how things like people's approval of the president and such can effect things like this.
c. The main findings of the poll were that there was an all time low of 40% of people having trust in the government on domestic policies, and 43% of trust on international policies. When basing it on political parties, "63% of Democrats trust the federal government to handle domestic problems it faces, compared with 34% of independents and 28% of Republicans". They are not surprising to me because there has been vocalization of the upset of the government lately, so it is to be expected for that to show up in the poll. And with the president being a Democrat after all, I knew the approval of Republicans on international and democratic issues would be low.
d. The poll gives me a feeling that it is biased somewhat, but it is probably due to sampling or human error.
e. The results from polls usually favor one side more heavily than the other, so politicians can use this to show that the people believe in this, or don't like that, etc. They can use this as evidence in campaign strategies to say things against their opponent, or make themselves look better.
I picked the poll “Government, Economy, Immigration Are Top U.S. Problems” from Gallup.
a) I chose this poll because I always knew that government, the economy and immigration were at the top for US problems. This poll is politically relevant because even today, we are still having major issues with immigration (especially over the summer) and the killing of people across the border who was not even trying to cross.
b) This poll contains the general concepts of the constitution with the ability to vote for something to change and political parties. It depends on the political party or political stance is to what they have to say what they feel is the major problems that face the United States.
c) The main findings of the polls are that people became to realize that economics were not the most important US problem after the recession and the aftermath. They realized that the problems lay even further, going back to the government and immigration.
d) This statement, “The government's failure to act on immigration before the recess likely angered Americans who say immigration is the most important issue…” I believe is biased because that may be how the author felt about the situation, about the government not acting on the issue right at that moment. The author may not know what angered the Americans, but to place the blame on the issue of immigration fit the scenario and added emphasis that may have been needed.
e) I feel that politicians could use the immigration idea and how they plan to fix the rising issue of illegal immigrants coming over and American soldiers shooting them from across the border. The immigration laws need to be looked at and possibly the American people can get the issue fixed.
I went to Gallup and I picked the poll "The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer--by Seven Hours"
a) I picked this poll because I have a job and most full time people aren't allowed to have overtime, so this caught my attention as to some people having over 47 hours. This is a political problem because unemployment is a huge issue today.
b) This relates to the Constitution, because we can't have cruel or unusual punishment and working people too much can be a form of punishment and the government is trying to fix the unemployment problems and by balancing out the hour between people, more people could have jobs.
c)It shocked me that 21% of people worked 50-59 hours and only 42% stayed around 40 hours like they're supposed to. Also, 56% of the people that worked 40 hours got paid hourly and 37% got paid salary.
d) I don't think this poll is biased because the wording isn't persuading you to answer one particular way. It's very factual.
e) This would be beneficial to see how they could help fix the unemployment problems their are in the world today. This would also help economically because people don't work over 40+ hours, so businesses aren't spending so much money on taxes.
Since 9/11, Fewer Americans Say Terrorism Top Problem - Gallup
a. I picked this poll because 9/11 was yesterday and that date is important in history. This poll is relevant because it has to do with dissatisfaction with government and the economy
b. this has to do with the executive branch dealing with the president.
c. the main findings in this poll is that Americans are far less concerned with terrorism since 9/11, which is at 1%, now they care about dissatisfaction with government and the economy. The findings are not surprising to me because the government today could be doing a better job right now in my opinion
d. there is bias because this poll is voluntary response, people chose if they want to respond, and some people will be more inclined to respond if they have a strong opinion about a subject.
e. Since Obama is a democrat, republicans can use this to their advantage because the biggest problem Americans think is greatest is dissatisfaction with government.
"US Blacks less satisifed with Ways Blacks are Treated." -Gallup
IO picked this poll because i'm interested in all the issues in the news related to police brutality, specifically directed towards african americans such as the killing of Brown and the riots in Ferguson. This poll is very politically relevant to issues such as this.
This poll relates to the constitution because it is addressing racial equality and discrimination. This poll can help us understand the idea that while the constituion gives poltical equality to all races, many feel these races are not all recieving equal treatment and that many people may be targeting or mistreating blacks.
The poll was taken after the not guilty verdict of Zimmerman and it showed that the happiness of blacks about how they were treated had gone down by 6%, while for most other races it had not changed or gone up.
I don't feel that this poll was extremely biased because it thouroughly addressed all the current issues in the media, including Zimmerman and the 50th anniversay of MLK's Dream speech, and talked about the affect those may have had on peoples answers. However, it may have been slightly biased because they asked the question about racial treatment right after they asked about the Zimmerman trail. The trial was not what the people were thinking about, and this may have provoked strong emotions for them regarding racial treatment.
Voter outreach programs could benefit from the stas produced in ths poll by appealing to the various races and addressing the way they, specifically blacks, are treated.
I went to Rasmussen Reports and picked the pole “Voters strongly oppose Obama’s Amnesty plan for Illegal Immigrants.”
a. I picked this pole because immigration let alone, illegal immigration, is one of America’s top problems. This is politically relevant because 62% of American voters do not support Obama’s amnesty plan and believe that congress should challenge him in court if he tries to follow through with it.
b. This poll contains the general concepts of the constitution because 44% of the voters believed Obama has been less faithful to the constitution than all of the other presidents.
c. The main findings are that 62% oppose Obama’s new plan while a mere 26% are in favor of his plan. Also 24% think the president has the legal authority to launch this new plan, while 57% believe that the president does not have the legal right. I am not shocked by these findings because most Americans since urbanization the early 1900’s have always opposed immigration.
d. No, I do not think any of the information is biased because most Americans already oppose immigration. Plus, this poll provided statistics for both ends of the spectrum. (people that supported amnesty and people that didn’t)
e. Politicians would use this to side with the majority of not following through with the amnesty plan to win over more votes.
I chose "Religion Remains a Strong Marker of Political Identity in U.S." from Gallup. I chose this poll because I consider religion to be very important to me personally and was wondering what 'political identity' that would coincide with. This is relevant because around the world, conflicts arise between different religions, however, the trend shows that religious people tend to make the same political choices, as do non religious people - despite their different religious views. The main issue this poll relates to is the freedom to practice whichever religion a person chooses (since this also gives people the option to not practice a religion). We can see how religion and politics correlate. The poll found that people who identified as 'very religious' tended to be Republicans wheres as 'moderately religious' and 'nonreligious' people tended to be Democrats. This is entirely unsurprising to me. Typically we connect those who are more religious as being more conservative and, therefore, more Republican. Especially in regards to my experience in the so called 'Bible Belt' of America, I find this to be mostly true. An issue with this poll, though, is how difficult it is to quantify how religious a person is. I think that makes the results a little less reliable. If a person said that "religion is an important part of their daily lives and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week" they were considered to be 'very religious'. While I do not attend services each week, I still consider myself to be pretty religious. However, according to this survey, I may not be. This poll can tell politicians who their target audience is, in terms of religion. Or, it could tell a politician which group it needed ti try hardest to sway or persuade. A Republican giving a speech to really religious Americans, would know that they are preaching to the choir, so to speak (no pun intended), whereas if they were speaking to a bunch of atheists, they may need to alter what they are saying to try and be more convincing.
"Amid Crucial Senate Race, Alaskans' Independence Grows" (Gallup)
I chose this simply because I love the state of Alaska and the title intrigued me as to what it was going to be about. This poll is politically relevant a because it discusses the trouble political campaigns with Alaska having nearly 59% of if the Alaskans politically independent. The general concepts that it addresses is the constitution but also the amendments particularly to voting since this is what this poll discusses. This poll relates to class since we have been recently been talking about political ideology. This made me better understand the concept of how popular being politically independent has become and how it works with campaigns and elections, the main findings of the polls showed me that 59% of residents I. Alaska are politically independent 13% are Democrat and 26% are Republicans and by so many being politically independent it is so hard for these two individuals Begich and Sullivan are fighting hard for a U.S Senate Seat. It becomes a little bias when it starts to talk about Obama having one of the lowest approvals there and how their concept of economy differs. I consider this bias because it did not have anything to do with Alaska being politically independent. . Politicians might be interested in this poll so they can become aware of how Alaska will favor in the upcoming presidential elections,
(1B)
I chose “Gallup Review: Black and White Attitudes Toward Police”. I chose this poll because recent situations like Ferguson and the Zimmerman-Martin situation. This poll is politically relevant because it discusses citizen trust in the police system which is supposed to be protected us, the people. It discusses racial views on the police system, how whites and blacks respond. The general concepts of this poll was between the constitution and media. Now the state government is supposed to protect the states and the police have part of that job. The media comes into this by portraying situations like Ferguson, dealing with protectionism, at different viewpoints. And it is more a race based poll than class. However, we see a chart of the perception of the Police, a perception of those treated by the police, and a chart on black and white opinion on the creation of new civil right laws; which all show us influence of the government and influence of media on situations. The main findings in the poll were that more blacks have less confidence in the police system, whereas more whites have more confidence. And I do not find this poll surprising because I see the situations on the news and even here in my hometown. I am not sure that the poll is biased as much as it is inaccurate. It does not specify how many participants there were in each poll. Politicians, especially for state governments could use these polls to promote how they can make everyone feel safe, blacks and whites. Those running for city sheriff could use this to get to young adults.
(1B)
I went to Gallup and chose the poll “Americans Wary of Federal Influence on Public Schools”. I chose this poll because I am interested in the idea of a lack of federal influence on schools, considering they provide a decent amount of support to public schools. Its relevance to today’s politics is not as massive as it should be, due to current events such as the threat of ISIS; however, it is recognized by both parties. Moreover, it is more on the agenda of the First Lady- Michelle Obama- as it usually has been with previous ones. Politicians also realize that it is important because this is how the next generation gets their proper education for when they go off to look for a job. This mainly relates to Federalism (Fiscal Federalism specifically), due to its grant system and the school system’s major use of that. Looking at a federally influenced versus a lack of federal influence on public schools aids in the understanding of fiscal federalism, as it then shows how much a difference would be made should public schools lose a major part of their funding, as well as individual students losing a major area of where they can get money to use in college. However, this then goes to question what the poll is about, which is should the federal government then influence what schools learn, since they provide so much of the funding to schools and education. The poll found that not only did most believe in a curriculum at the school board level, but showed a lack of knowledge on Common Core, as well as a disapproval of it. I do not find the results surprising, though, as most Americans would like to have a grasp on what their child is learning, and tend to believe in a state, or even county led education program. There is bias in this poll however, as most tend to associate the federal government with wasted money and bad ideas, and they also associate the concept of ‘public schools’ to something organized by the state. This would lead to an automatic disapproval of federal government influence by some. Republicans would benefit from this poll, as their results tended to mirror that of the general public more so than Democrats. Because of this, using their platform on education while campaigning to the US would prove beneficial to their party, as well as chances to whoever is attempting to be elected.
“Americans Approve of Unions but Support “Right to Work”- Gallup
a. I chose this poll because in many recent events employment is always an issue. Whether it be that there are no jobs, or people are unsatisfied with the way they work or the environment in which they are working. I believe this poll is interesting because it represents the views of many Americans who agree to terms of unions in which employees are tied to the companies they work for, but also want to receive the benefits of the right to work which grants them the opposite of being tied to a union.
b. This poll falls under labor unions/employment of citizens because it addresses the people’s desire of laws that should be implemented into employment for more freedom when choosing where to work. This helps better understand the concept of labor unions and right to work because they are opposite of one another. Labor unions requires an individual to be tied to company meaning that individual can’t decide when they would want to quit working and so forth. Whereas the right to work laws grants people to the right to join any workplace but have the ability to quit on their behalf.
c. The results shows that many more democrats, independents, and republicans would vote for Right to work laws , whereas the result percentage of approval for labor unions is almost half of the right to work law poll. 24 out of the 50 states have already implemented the law throughout all workforces which suggests that these changes are a step in a positive direction because it not only attracts people but also businesses interested in implementing these changes.
d. I don’t believe this poll is biased because this same research has continued since 1936 asking people to vote on either unions or right to work law. I believe the stability and time of the economy work wise correlates with the responses of people, but since the first start of the poll people have consecutively voted for equal rights at work rather than joining a labor union.
e. A lot of the time people look forward to new politicians running to address the problems with employment and ways to improve it. Therefore politicians may be interested in using these statistics because they can visit states who haven’t yet adopted the law and speak to them about to importance of implementing a law that not only benefits the rights of an individual but as well attracts more business which creates more jobs. Therefore voters who are looking to have better work conditions and better employment will definitely benefit from these rights.
My article is "Trust in federal government on international issues at new low" by Gallup
a. I chose this poll because citizens have continuously faced problems with the government having too much power and not being able to use it for themselves and this is relevant because it is a repeated problem that we have witnessed throughout history multiple times within the federal system.
b. Addresses the Constitution and it helps to better understand it because it gives insight as to the power of the executives against terrorist threats and etc which is essentially international problems.
c. Results are almost a tie between trusting government with international and domestic problems which indicates that many of the people believe that the government is not as stable as they would like it to be.
d. There is no bias it collected poll results from peoples view and also political party views on government.
e. If politicians clarify what they're going to do and address international and domestic problems, citizens will be more interested in who runs the country more organized and at the same time safely.
The poll, "Congress Approval Sits at 14% Two Months Before Elections" from Gallup caught my attention because there is currently a massive quagmire in Congress regarding the ability of the Democrats and Republicans to mutually agree upon a topic of national relevance. This poll relates to political parties and elections which is material that will be covered in class soon. This poll could help our class to understand how approval ratings of government officials lead to patterns in voting. The main point of this poll is that Congressional approval ratings are near an all-time low and the impact of the approval ratings on voter turnout will cause more voters to cast their ballots for government officials running for a seat in Congress. I do not think that this poll is biased because Gallup conducts phone interviews with random numbers but accounts for deficiencies in certain minorities being left out initially by including them into the results. Politicians running for a seat in Congress who are running for the first time could use this poll to appeal to voters to show that the current officials in Congress aren't getting the job done and people aren't satisfied with them. This means that the people should vote for the person running for office instead of someone who has had a seat before, because the person running the first time is more likely to make a positive change which would appeal to the voter.
After quite a bit of searching, the topic that (finally) jumped out at me was “Trust in Mass Media Returns to All-Time Low”. I picked this poll because it reminded me of Chapter 7 in our textbook dealing with mass media, and prior to that, Chapter 6 about polls and trust in the government. This poll is politically relevant as it notes a decline in media-related trust from both political parties. Obviously, the general concept is media with a focus on political parties as well and it might help up better understand these concepts as it goes in depth about the relationships of the political parties to our governmental leaders, the flaws of mass media, and the effects of mass media, which are all things that we can relate to. Basically, the poll says that both democrats and republicans are losing trust in the mass media’s ability to keep us properly and accurately informed, as the trust level has returned (after increasing) to the lowest value that it’s been since the late 1990s. The fact that trust in mass media is declining doesn’t surprise me, because media biases are something that I hear people’s concerns about frequently. However, I do find it ironic that even though people are losing trust in mass media communications, broadcast media continues to gain more and more “followers” every day, and people never cease to listen to what the media has to say about any topic. Honestly, I do think that the poll question was leading. It was prompting the answer going toward having less trust in the mass media as, instead of leaving it as sort of an “open” question, there was almost a criteria given to the responder as to what “good” mass media is. The question asked if media is doing a good job at reporting “fully, accurately, and fairly” which to me is very leading in the phrasing. Politicians might be interested in using the data saying that people are losing trust in mass media to promote the idea of narrowcasting and personal connections to emphasize the candidate’s close relationship with the voters. It would benefit them in the way that it would definitely make the voters feel useful in a way and personally connected with the candidates which has become a big focus of campaigns.
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