Study Guide #12
Public Opinion and the Media

If democracy is "people rule," then the people must have some way to control their government. Political scientists call the institutions that connect citizens to government "intermediary" institutions. Over the next several weeks we will study several intermediary institutions--polls, the media elections, interest groups and parties.

First, take a look at Gary Rivlin’s brief article on some of the ways in which people misinterpret polling.  Rivlin’s article is from the perspective of pollsters themselves, so he’s not arguing that polls are worthless, just that they have to be read carefully and in context.

Second, check out Jacobs and Shapiro’s explanation for why, despite their intense interest in polling, “Politicians Don’t Pander” to public opinion.  You might think that this is a good thing, especially if you are a (Edmund) Burkean and favor trusteeship, but Jacobs and Shapiro provide some reasons to be concerned.  Pay particular attention to their notion of “Crafted Talk.”

Third, read a segment from Walter Lippman's famous anti-plebiscitary treatise, The Phantom Public, written in 1925. Lippman is scathing in his view of the capacities of the average person to play a central role in public policymaking. Do you agree with Lippman's analysis? If so, is the plebiscitary vision of democracy fatally flawed?

Finally, check out a chapter from Thomas Patterson’s Out of Order in which he contrasts how journalists think and write about politics as compared to most citizens.  How does the journalists’ “framing” of politics affect the ability of citizens to understand public affairs by reading the newspaper and watching the news?

When you finish the readings you should be able to answer the following questions:

Rivlin, "Do You Trust Polls or Not?"

1.   What are the most common mistakes people make in interpreting poll results?

Jacobs and Shapiro, "Politicians Don't Pander"

1.  Why didn’t Congressional Republicans follow public opinion and vote against President Clinton’s impeachment?  Why do members of Congress increasingly ignore national public opinion in their votes, according to the authors?

2.  What is “crafted talk”?  Why are politicians increasingly reliant on it according to the authors?

Lippman, “The Phantom Public” (Serow & Ladd, 383-387)

1. Why does Lippman say that the voter "reigns in theory, but in fact does not govern"?

2. Lippman says that theories of democracy are "bad . . .in the sense that it is bad for a fat man to try to be a ballet dancer." What does he mean?

3. Lippman says that "public opinion does not make the law." What role in government can public opinion play according to Lippman?

4. Of the four visions of democracy outlined at the beginning of the course (majoritarian, classical, pluralist, trusteeship), which does Lippman's view seem to resemble? Do you agree with his stance?

Patterson, “Schemas”

1. What is a schema? How are the schemas of reporters and voters different?

2. What is the "game" schema? What about politics does it tend to highlight? What does it tend to ignore?

3. What is the "governing" schema? (Hint: It's very much like my description of politics as a conversation about collective problems.) What about politics does it tend to highlight? What does it tend to ignore?

4. Why are journalists so enmeshed in the game schema? Why are they bored by the governing schema?

5. How has media coverage of elections changed? Why does Patterson suggest that the 1960s were a turning point?

6. What is framing? What according to Patterson are the consequences of the way the media have framed politics?