PUBLIC OPINION

AND PROPAGANDA
PUBLIC OPINION

• In political science, the study of public opinion is

focused on the analysis of interaction between
citizens and groups, and between citizens and the
states.
Historical Origins
• The origin of the term “public opinion” may be traced to
ancient times
-golden ages of Greece
-Roman Empire
• In the Greek city –state of athens where ancient
democracy was born, the citizens assembled in open
session to discuss freely the burning issues of the day.
They took part in town-meeting discussions on such
important public policy issues as taxation, treaty
negotiations and problems of war and peace. This direct
popular participation of the Greek citizens in the sharing
of political power with government and in the
formulation and criticism of public policy laid the
foundation of public opinion in democracy.
Historical Origins
• In Rome the theater became the symbol of the free
exchange of ideas, the crucible of what the Romans
called consensus populi.
• Rodee, Anderson and Cristol – some philosopher
popularized the maxim. Vox populi, Vox Dei ( the voice of
the people is the voice of God.)
• Machiavelli- in his Discourses compared the voice of the
people to the voice of God.
• 18th Century- the phrase “public opinion” in the sense of
popular participation in the formation, execution and
criticism of public policy was introduced in Western
Europe.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau- father of direct democracy, was
the first to use the phrase on the eve of French
revolution.
The Meaning of Public Opinion
• Floyd Allport- defined public opinion in terms of “ a
multi-individual situation in which individuals are
expressing themselves as favoring or opposing some
definite condition, person, or proposal of widespread
importance, in such a proportion of number,
intensity, and constancy, as to give rise to the
probability of affecting action, directly, or indirectly,
toward the subject concerned.”
• Others believe that individuals express their views
and behave in an environment in which time and
place are important variables. They claim that what is
said about oil energy in the Philippines today may
vary from what is said about it in other countries and
at other periods of time.
The Meaning of Public Opinion
• They conclude that public opinion “is the judgment,
attitude and belief of a group of people at a particular
time and place.”
• Public Opinion is the expression of attitudes of a certain
group of people on a public issue. Editorials and
commentaries belong to this group.
• Public opinion refers to the collective individual opinions
of a designated public concerning government and
politics and public policy.
• Lawson’s definition of public opinion is an aggregate of
the individual opinions on any issue, but found on
examination to be varied and conflicting, “held with
different degrees of intensity by persons with very
different degrees of access to political decision-making
processes.”
 The Meaning of Public Opinion
• Public- generally believed to be a part of society, so that
there are many types of publics.
Ex. Group of people, civic club, students in a classroom,
business organization, labor union
• Publics may also described in terms of geographical divisions
such as the people of a town, city, country, province, state,
or nation.
• A public, according to sociologists, is a group of people
confronted by an issue, who are divided in opinion about the
issue, and they discuss it to express their views to form
public opinion.
• In the political dynamics, a public is a group of people with
common interests that makes itself felt in some stages of the
formulation and execution of government policies.
 The Meaning of Public Opinion
• William Albig – public opinion is “the expression of all the
members of a group who are giving attention in any way to a
given issue.”
• David Truman- public opinion consists of the opinions of a
group of persons making up the public on the given issue
under discussion.
• To sum up the definition of public opinion contains three
aspects.
 First, there must be aggregate of persons rather than a single
individual to express those opinions on a certain public
question.
 Second, opinions must be expressed or communicated to
others.
 Third, public opinions develops only when there is an issue.
 The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
• Public opinion may be considered as playing a
determining role in a democracy.
• James Bryce- democracy should be based on public
opinion.
• A great achievement of public opinion in the realm of
polities in a democracy is the translation of consensus
or decision of a given public into public policy, or the
effective criticism of the policy of the government. If
public opinion has a great influence on the political
process of a democratic state, it is important that it be
measured or ascertained.
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
1. Public Opinion is Measured Through the Ballot.
- one of the traditional ways in which public opinion is
measured through elections. The true measure of public
opinion during elections is the exercise of the freedom
of suffrage by the voters.
Freedom of suffrage- means that the voters are free to
follow their own will to select their public officers in
spite of many dangers, threats and pressures that may
influence their decisions.
2. Public Opinion is Measured Through Interest or Pressure
Groups.
-it has been shown in the preceding chapter that
interest or pressure groups influence the formulation
and execution of public policy for promoting the welfare
of their members.
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
2. Public Opinion is Measured Through Interest or
Pressure Groups.
• They communicate their views to public officials in
some stages in the formulation of public policy,
through a variety of methods – through letters and
telegrams, through testimony before committees in
the legislature, through personal contact with public
officers, and through lobbyists.
• The pressure group is one of the “models of political
linkage” by which government policy is made in
accordance with the needs and demands of public
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
3. Public Opinion is Measured Through Direct
Contract With the Citizens.
- From time to time, the national leadership goes to
people to sound out their views on certain aspects
of the government’s program. This method of direct
contact with the citizens provides the leadership a
wide range of people’s opinion including their
problems which would guide it to find effective
ways of implementing government projects for the
development and welfare of the state.
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
4. Public Opinion is Measured Through Referendum, or
the Plebiscite.
- The referendum in many democratic countries is an
institution of direct democracy used to ratify
constitutional amendments and to prevent bad laws
from being implemented. In the Philippines,
however, both referendum and plebiscite are potent
instruments of measuring the political opinions of
the citizens on proposed policies and amendments to
the Constitution respectively.
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
5. Public Opinion is Measured Through Opinion Polls.
-In the face of changing conditions great strides have
been made to form public opinion through scientific
polling devices. In the United States, for example, the
measurement of public opinion by opinion polls
started with the “straw votes” technique. It was a
system where large numbers of persons became
respondents to a mass polling. Newspapers, joined
by magazines like the Literary Digest, the Farm
Journal and the Pathfinder, experimented with the
straw poll technique.
The Methods of Measuring Public Opinion
• Statistical research began to develop together with
the principles of psychology and sociology which
helped make a measuring instrument for the study of
public opinion.
• The system required pollster to have a cross-section
of the population, that is, selecting carefully a
“random sample” of the population.
• Random sampling- means the polling of a
remarkably small but chosen group of people
reflective of the cross-section of the population
which takes into consideration such variables as
place of residence, age, sex, religion, professional
interests, and economic status, etc.
• In the United States, the random technique of
measuring public opinion is characterized by two
primary sampling procedures:
1. Area sampling – The area sampling method
requires the selection of individuals for interview
from carefully chosen areas. These areas would
include states, regions, cities of various sizes, and the
proper proportion of rural to urban dwellers. This
tested sampling procedure brought out certain
administrative problems upon the planning and
execution of this method, and furthermore, it was
found to be expensive.
 2. Quota Sampling- an alternative method of
random sampling or “quota control” method where a
given number of persons are designated to be
interviewed in certain strata, such as economic or
social status, age, sex, and community size, but the
selection of particular respondents is left to the
judgment of the interviewer. This is also called
stratified sampling.
• There are also two other general methods of
sampling the purposive sampling and the
combination of both stratified and purposive
sampling.
• Purposive sampling- combines interview or questioning
to a certain specific group or element in the community,
as when lawyers and teachers are asked whom they
support for President. These method of sampling give
valid results only if data on the population can be made
available and accurate as possible.
• Big names has been associated with public opinion polls
in the United States and among them were: Paul T.
Cherrington, Elmo Roper, Archibal M. Crossley, and Dr.
George Gallup. Each of them organized their own poll
organizations and conducted their polls in forecasting
presidential elections as early as 1936. They were
remarkably successful in predicting the outcome of the
1940 and 1944 presidential elections. However they are
all failed to predict the presidential winner in 1948, when
Truman defeated Governor Dewey, due to the fact that
the pollster have had full confidence in Dewey.
• In the United States today, various opinion organizations
had undertaken opinion surveys on the political strengths
of reelectionist President George Bush of the Republican
Party and Democratic Party candidate, Senator Bill
Clinton. Both were presidential contenders in the
November 10, 1992 presidential elections. Survey results
of most opinion poll organizations showed Bill Clinton
was on lead Such results were borne by the outcome of
the elections in which Clinton won over Bush. Likewise, in
the Philippines, opinion surveys conducted by social
weather stations and poll organizations for the May 11,
1992 general elections showed Miriam Defensor-
Santiago and Fidel V. Ramos at the top of the list of seven
presidential contenders. The forecast was borne out of
the electoral results which made Ramos the presidential
winner by a plurality vote and Defensor-Santiago coming
out second.
• Dr. George Gallup, from the viewpoint of political
philosophy, defended public opinion polls as follows:
1. There are no indications that pollster will dominate
legislators in their role of formulating and
determining public policy
2. Polls uncover areas of ignorance in the electorate
3. Polls serve as check to the power and influence of
pressure groups
4. Polls assist administrative departments in making
decisions
5. Polls speed up the processes of democracy with
reports on public opinion
6. Polls help define the mandate of the people in
national elections
• Criticism directed at public opinion polls as follows:
1. Public opinion polls represent an unwise attempt to move
toward direct democracy when in the complexities of
modern government it is required that solution of complex
issues needs the flexibility of a representative democracy.
2. The public, it is believed, has no opinion, and polling
merely extracts from the respondent a meaningless answer
of “yes”, or he is ignorant
3. Polls reduce the power of the legislature in its role of
policymaking.
4. Polls always create a “bandwagon” effect, and since the
attitude of some people is that they always want to be on
the winning side, they depend upon the poll results to
elect the winner, thus sometimes the results of the
elections will not reflect the true mandate of a responsible
electorate.
5. Scientific polling does not offer always an accurate
gauge of the intensity of opinion, in as much as there
is a danger that at the moment a person is polled
concerning a political issue, he may not feel very
strongly about it, or has not made up his opinion
about it. His mind about a political candidate may
change on election day.
• Despite this criticisms against public opinion polling,
poll organizations have made constant progress in
improving their polling instruments to predict
elections results and also to measure opinion on
political issues that confront the lawmaking body, the
executive and other government agencies between
elections. Thus, public opinion polls provide a means
for the strengthening of democracy.
• Dr. George Gallup puts it succinctlly in defense of
public opinion polls: “To the extent that a political
leader does take public opinion into account in
making his decisions, he should have an accurate and
objective measure of that opinion rather than mere
guess work. What polls endeavor to supply is a more
systematic and more objective measure of opinions.”
Public Opinion in a Dictatorship
• There can hardly be a free public opinion in countries
which have dictatorships or totalitarian governments.
People have no participation in the shaping of public
policy through elections and free discussion, since
policy formulation is the monopoly of a self-
appointed elite in dictatorship. If participation is ever
extended to the people in the “political process,” it is
only a ritual to chose candidates for public office
from among members of the single party which is
the chief organ of the ruling elite.
• The decision-making power of the dictatorship is
located in a select group of the party, like the Cabinet
of Hitler’s National Socialist Party, the Fascist Grand
Council of Mussolini’s Fascist Party, and the Politburo
of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist
Party. As always, it is the leader dictator who is the
head of this elite group.
• “Public Opinion” in the dictatorship is manufactured
by the government’s propaganda machine which
utilizes all communications media, like the
newspapers, radio, motion pictures television, etc. to
make it appear that this so-called public opinion came
from the people. Criticism public policy is taboo in a
totalitarian society, and opposition to the dictatorship
means prison, slave labor camp, or death.
PROPAGANDA
• The term propaganda was derived from the name of
one of the units of the Catholic Church – the Sacra
Congregatio Christiano nomini propaganda ( the
Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the
Faith).
• Created in 17th century, about 1650, for the purpose
of educating the priest, so that in turn they were
charged with the responsibility of propagating the
Catholic faith throughout the world.
Propaganda Defined
• The term Propaganda is essentially a technique that
manipulates the behavior and influences the
opinions of a number of individuals by the use of
words, persons, objects, pictures , music stereotypes,
etc. This technique involves a process, and according
to Rodee, Anderson and Christol the process consists
of three factors: the propagandist and his message,
the technique and media used, and the subjects
exposed to the influence.
• Rodee et al. defined propaganda as “the propagation
of ideas through promotion, persuasion, and the
utilization of the influence.”
 Factors that Affect the Technique and Content of
Propaganda
1. The Status of the Propagandist
-is an important element in the propaganda
process. Factors like numbers, financial resources,
internal integration and control, good will and
prestige and access to channels of communication
are important to affect status.
2. The Propagandist’s Situation or Environment
-one of the big problems of the propagandist is how
to control the situation or environment under which
he works.
3. The Propagandist’s Plan of Attack
-The third aspect of the technique and content of
propaganda refers to selecting goals, planning the
campaign tactics or strategies, and considering certain
specific techniques which will attain the objectives of
propaganda and will give the propagandist greater
rewards.
- The propagandist’s goals are to condition the attitudes
and influence the opinions of individuals or groups who
are the subjects of propaganda. In other words, these
people should be convinced to approve and support the
propagandist’s motives may be to buy the product of his
company, or vote for his candidate, or be willing to write
their representatives to approve or reject certain
legislation, etc.
Propaganda Strategy involves:
1. Creating a socially acceptable image of the group in
the public mind
2. Explaining the group’s behavior to the public’s
satisfaction
3. Drawing an uncomplimentary verbal picture of
one’s competitors
4. Sitting in constant judgment on the behavior of
competing groups
• Interest or pressure groups also utilize propaganda
for the attainment of their goals. In their
relationship with government, these groups
consider governmental action or inaction as
propaganda material.
The Techniques of Propaganda
• The myriad organization in a modern society exist for
the protection and advancement of the interests of
their members. To do this they function to influence
public opinion. They continuously spread propaganda
by using all available communication and the
techniques of influence and persuasion to those in
influential positions and upon the public. The basic
propaganda techniques used by these organizations
or by political interest groups are not unique, but are
familiar and pretty-well understood. They are even
shared with other elements in society that attempt
to influence the attitudes of a number of people.
• First, identification with emotionally charged symbols
or words. Symbols or words play a very important
role in the art of propaganda. A picture, a sign, a
statue, a flag or banner, or things that represent
ideas and meanings may become effective tools of
persuasion if the propagandist can get his listeners or
readers to accept his idea or suggestion. Words may
also be used as symbols.
“Filipinism”
“Safeguard our sovereignty against imperialism”
• Second, the use of distortion by selection. Under this
technique the propagandist may have his materials based
on facts. But he selects only those facts that are useful in
presenting the idea that he wants to project. A part of
this method is slanting or exaggeration of the facts to
emphasize only one view of the problem or idea that the
propagandist wants to convey to his subjects.
• Third, the practice of distraction. This technique is a
potential weapon of the propagandist as it distracts
attention of the subjects of propaganda from the facts. It
is what propaganda experts call a “red herring” that
stands across the path of factual information to give an
individual or a group of people an erroneous impression.
Distraction is “often attained through humor, satire,
irony, and name calling;
• Fourth, is the use of rumor. This propaganda device
may be considered as one of the most effective
techniques that the propagandist may utilize
especially within a particular group in the “rumor
public,” which is composed of individuals of the
same interests and who have common concern with
the subject matter of the rumor.
• Rodee, Anderson, and Christol quoted Allport and
Postman as saying that a rumor has three
characteristics:
1. It is a proposition offered for belief
2. It is usually conveyed orally from person
3. It lacks substantiating evidence, and, therefore, a
hearsay.
• Finally, another propaganda tactic is the use of the
big lie. This technique was practiced fervently by
Hitler during the second World War. He believed that
the message of the propagandist becomes consistent
if repeated. He made use of timing to avoid detection
of inconsistencies. The Allied forces ignored Hitler’s
art of propaganda believing that the big lie was
bound to be discovered.
• According to the Institute of Propaganda Analysis of
the United States, there are other techniques more
commonly used in propaganda warfare. These are:
bandwagon, name calling, glittering generality,
testimonial, transfer, plain folks and card stacking.
• Bandwagon – is a propaganda technique of
convincing the subjects of propaganda to join the
majority of people who have accepted the viewpoint
or product proposed by the propagandist.
• Name calling – involves the use of a label intended
for a person or program which would cause rejection
by the public of that person or program. The label
may inspire fear, hatred, or prejudice because of its
bad or disagreeable meaning. The characterization of
a political candidate as murderer or a swindler is an
example.
• The glittering generality- is a technique that appeals
to the emotions of love, sympathy, esteem, and
brotherhood; and by employing such virtue-words as
charity, common good, truth, liberty, etc. The
propagandist may succeed to have his listeners or
subjects accept his proposal or program.
• Testimonial – is a measure by which a well-known
person or celebrity endorsers to the public a political
candidate, a program, a new product or idea which the
public may accept.
• Transfer- is another technique of propaganda that
carries the prestige and authority or respectably of a
person, program, or idea over to another person,
program or plan which the propagandist would like the
subjects of propaganda approve or accept.
• Plain folks – is a technique utilized by a politician or
leader that would make himself appear to the
common people as possessing their common habits
and characteristics. President Ramon Magsaysay
adopted this propaganda tactic for his own benefit.
• Card Stacking – is a device used to describe the
process of selecting evidence in order to win support
for a proposition. The propagandist seeks to confuse
those searching for facts which he intentionally hides
by distortion, falsehood, or omission. He resorts to
over-emphasis or under-emphasis to evade the
issues in order to discredit the opponent’s views.
• Limitations of Propaganda
-Propaganda in essence “play upon weaknesses of
man’s critical faculties: upon his suggestibility, and of
course upon his prejudices and passions.” In the
present century, propaganda is more used to present
a one-sided view and to subvert the truth giving the
term unsavory connotations. Because most
propaganda efforts are directed towards this end, it
is important to know certain limitations of
propaganda.
-One limitation is that of government censorship
• Another limitation is when citizens are possessed
with alert and inquiring minds in which case the
propagandist finds it difficult to penetrate.
• And finally, Laswell and Kaplan said that propaganda
is ineffective to existing predisposition. No amount
propaganda can alter an existing predisposition.