• opinion saliency – comparative significance of public opinion on a given issue

(net neutrality)
• opinion stability – measure of how public opinion changes on a given issue
(democracy as our type of government rarely changes as opposed to
enfranchisement of minorities)
• opinion-policy congruence – how “in-tune” the government is to public
sentiment on a given issue

1) Measuring Public Opinion

a) As recent as the early 20th century politicians gauged public support by the
intensity of applause
b) Now, numerous polling organizations, both partisan and non-partisan provide
immediate, data-driven feedback following any and all types of events
2) Methods used to measure public opinion
a) Mass Behavior and Mass Attributes
i) Not necessarily data-based
ii) Generalizations about public opinion can be drawn from the responses of the
public about trends or perspectives
(1) business cycles affect the attitude of the public
(2) White Flight can be interpreted into providing (or not) support or interest
in a given area
b) Getting public opinion directly from the people
i) Impressionistic – subjective method
(1) Person-to-person – speaking directly to people about issues
(2) Selective polling – when politicians lack self-confidence they might
deliberately pick groups to poll that will more likely provide the data they
desire
(3) Bellwether Districts – a town or place that is a good predictor of the
attitudes of a large sector of the population; frequently used on Election
Day by news organizations
ii) Scientific Approach – based on gathering objective data
(1) Quota Sampling
(a) Most commonly used
(b) The sample is statistically similar to the general population (gender,
race, income…)
(2) Probability Sampling
(a) Most accurate
(b) Everyone in the population has an equal possibility of being sampled
iii) Area Sampling – breaks the population down into small, homogeneous units,
representative of the larger area