Chapter 10

1)
He encourages them to be careful about their trust in the media. He tells them to consider
biases and other motivations which could be influencing their presentation of the facts.

This caution would make elections more free and fair by helping people make decisions for
themselves rather than media outlets tilting them one way or the other.

In the context of the scenario, the interaction between media and voters can affect the way
that people are elected and how they govern once in office. This relationship where voters are
dependent upon the media is going to result in politicians who perform for the media instead of
their constituents.

2)
The two graphs display the approval ratings of each president over their 8 years in office.

Both President Obama and President George W. Bush entered office with high approval ratings
which generally decreased during their time in office.

Approval ratings can be influenced by events that occur in society such as wars or economic
shifts as people want someone to blame problems on or credit with successes. President Bush
saw an extremely high approval after 9/11, so this would have been a key time to successfully
pass his agenda.

3)
The clause relevant to both Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and Brown v. Board
of Education is the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause which guarantees all people be
equally protected under the law.

In the Brown case, the Court sided with the Black petitioners and ruled the discrimination
against them was unconstitutional. In Bakke, two decades later, the Court again ruled against
discrimination, but they now supported the White petitioner and invalidated the quotas used
against them.

Those who oppose the Bakke decision can rally businesses and institutions in their communities
to support Black students through scholarships and better opportunities in higher education.

4)
Although pollsters may argue that polls provide insight into popular policy platforms,
polling ultimately has a negative impact on American political life.
 Chapter 10

Misinformation is a dangerous threat in American politics, and this is further true with
the execution of polls. Polls can be created to misrepresent public views, and there is nothing to
prevent these from spreading. The 1st Amendment explicitly guarantees freedom of speech and
press, protections for which have been bolstered in cases like New York Times v. United States
and Brandenburg v. Ohio. These largely give leeway to individuals and media outlets to put out
any information regardless of accuracy.

The other side of this comes from the government: the legislative branch was
established in Article I of the Constitution to make decisions on behalf of the country. As such,
these legislators may be tempted to vote with opinion polls rather than their own beliefs, and
given the dangers of misleading or misrepresented polls, this is a risky idea for people to govern
by.

In that same area, some may argue that candidates can benefit from polls by adoption
popular decisions. However, this populist approach serves only to deepen party affiliations and
divisions. This was an idea Madison warned of in Federalist no. 10, and it’s a risk that is only
increased with the prevalence of public opinion polls.