Public Opinion

Front 1

aggregate opinion

Back 1

Opinion shared by a group of people

Front 2

census

Back 2

The counting, every ten years, of the population of the United States, conducted by the Bureau of the Census

Front 3

cognitive disonance

Back 3

A psychological condition where an individual is presented with conflicting or inconsistent beliefs, an in order to resolve this conflict, must either ignore the inconsistincies, develop irrational explanations for them, or reject some beliefs.

Front 4

congressional reappointment

Back 4

The reallocation of legislative seats, based on population

Front 5

consensus

Back 5

General agreement on an issue

Front 6

demographics

Back 6

The characteristics of human populations and population segments

Front 7

fluidity

Back 7

The changing of public opinion as time passes

Front 8

intensity

Back 8

The strength with which one feels for or against a public policy or issue. Often very important in generating public actions, and intensely held minority views often defeat less intensely held views held by majorities.

Front 9

latency

Back 9

The degree to which an opinion is held but not expressed

Front 10

latent public opinion

Back 10

Political opinions that citizens hold but don't express or act on. They have the potential to become widely expressed and acted on within the political arena.

Front 11

opinion poll

Back 11

Questioning a selected sample of people that are considered representative of a population on a given topic or topics.

Hint 11

Politicians, government officials, businesses, scholars, and the public use or study the polls to find information about populations.

Front 12

policy agenda

Back 12

Issues arising from the aggregate public opinion that politicians have decided to pay attention to and respond to. Items on the policy agenda have a good chance of becoming law.

Front 13

political agenda

Back 13

A list of issues on which a variety of political agents, such as interest groups, political parties, social movements, and elected officials, want to see the government take action.

Hint 13

An item can be on the political agenda and not on the policy agenda.

Front 14

polls

Back 14

Places where votes are cast and registered.

Front 15

public opinion

Back 15

The collected attitudes and beliefs of some groups of individuals.

Hint 15

In a democracy, a key issue is how responsive legislators should be to public opinion.

Front 16

random sample

Back 16

A sampling method in which each member of the population being surveyed has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.

Front 17

relevance

Back 17

The degree of importance that an issue is considered to have at a particular time. Issues become relevant when the public believes they're a direct or important concern.

Hint 17

Media plays a large role in the publics perception of an issue's relevance.

Front 18

sampling error

Back 18

The estimated difference between the results of a poll using a sample of the population and the true results that would have been found if the entire population had been polled.

Front 19

stereotype

Back 19

A standardized notion held in common about members of a group. Typically represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgement.