American Government Chapter 3 Summary

Chapter three, in the 5th edition of American Government: Your voice, your future, is about how public opinions, attitudes, and beliefs are established and used politically. Chapter three also touches on polling and its use in the political system, government power, and the differences between liberalism and conservatism. As stated in the text, Americans do not share the same concerns when it comes to how involved the government is in everyday living. Statistics offer a closer look at how these differences vary depending on race, sex, and demographic. Specifically, when it comes to the difference in opinion between the sexes, a clear viewpoint is displayed. While the fluctuation is consistent amongst men and women over the past 40 years, the percentage of men who felt the government was too strong was consistently a ten-degree difference, if not more, than women. The explanation to this difference is due to the receptivity of polices such as assisting the poor, minorities, etc. Women tend support such activities where men tend to question if such policies help and involve the government too much. …show more content…
Public opinion can be broken down into three main components and each component has a specific role to play. Directional is a part of public opinion that gauges favorability or lack thereof and can be thought of as a black and white model of people’s preferences. The intensity component of public opinion measures how deeply an opinion is held. Generally, Americans hold lots of opinions but few are strongly rooted. Lastly, stability is an aspect of public opinion that weighs the consistency of an individual’s opinions. Without a high level of intensity, opinions are easily swayed and can change often. Overall, public opinion provides insight into an individual’s support for individuals, establishments, and