Public Opinion

The Role of Public Opinion in a Democracy

The term for the views of all Americans is public opinion. Public opinion refers to the ideas and attitudes that people hold about an issue or a person.

Public opinion plays two key roles in a democracy. First, public opinion helps shape the decisions that officials make. Congressional and state legislators often travel back to their districts to meet with voters and talk about bills that are up for a vote. These officials recognize that if they are to represent the people, their votes should reflect the views of the people.

Personal Background

People’s opinions are often based on their experiences and their situation in life. Age and gender—being male or female—play key roles in shaping opinions. So do race and religion. A person’s job, income, and where he or she lives affect opinions too. All these personal factors work together to influence how each individual views public issues.

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Mass Media

A second factor shaping opinion is the mass media. A medium is a means of communication. Media, the plural, refers to many different means of communication. Cell phone text messages are a medium of communication. The mass media include all the various methods of communication that reach large numbers of people. These media include television, radio, Internet Web sites, newspapers, magazines, books, recordings, and movies.

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​The opinions stated by television news commentators can affect the way people respond to issues. Newspapers also publish editorials that take a position on important issues. Editorials can encourage support for the author’s point of view. The same thing is true of blogs posted on the Internet.

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​Interest Groups

A third source of public opinion is interest groups. These groups are made up of people who share a point of view about an issue. Interest groups try to influence public opinion in many ways. They work to convince other people to adopt their point of view. They also work to convince public officials to support their positions. Because they may put political pressure on leaders to act in a certain way, interest groups are sometimes called pressure groups.

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Features of Public Opinion

Public opinion is often described in terms of three factors. They are direction, intensity, and stability. Each measures a different aspect of public opinion.

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Direction refers to whether public opinion on a topic is positive or negative. For example, are people for or against spending more money on national defense? Are they for or against a cut in taxes?

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​Intensity refers to how strongly a person or group holds an opinion on an issue.

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​Stability is a matter of how firmly people hold to their views. In other words, how likely are they to change their minds? Opinions tend to be very stable when they are based on strong beliefs.

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Polls Measure Public Opinion

To keep in touch with public opinion more regularly, many public officials rely on polls. A public opinion poll is a survey in which individuals are asked to answer questions about a particular issue or person. Today hundreds of groups conduct such polls. Members of the media and politicians refer to poll results to check on people’s attitudes.

Polls in which the questions are worded so as to shape a person’s responses are called push polls. Push polls are strongly criticized by companies and individuals who carry out scientific polls. When looking at poll results, citizens should ask themselves whether the questions were fair and unbiased. In push polls, questions are designed to create a certain response.

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