Public Opinion Review
PSCI 1050
Please use this review to guide your studying. Questions may be taken from the reading, the PowerPoint
slides, and class discussions and lectures. Good luck everyone!
• Why are Americans so poorly informed at a time when so much information is available?
• What kind of programming do we tend to listen to and/or watch?
• What is post-truth? “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less
influential in shaping public opinion that appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
• What does it mean to be misinformed? What is defensive processing? What is the Dunning-
Kruger effect?
• What links us as Americans? What are the ties that bind us together? How did Tocqueville refer
to them?
• Be sure to review the definition of public opinion.
• Who is the father of modern polling?
• What does it mean to say that public opinion places boundaries around opinion?
• Why should public officials respond to public opinion?
• Why do public officials feel it is ok not to respond to public opinion?
• What are some reasons why polls are unreliable?
• Terms to know: consensus, polarization, latent, intensity, salience.
• We discussed several characteristics of Millennials. Please be sure to review those.
• How does a college education tend to change attitudes?
• How does public opinion act as a barrier to certain government proposals or actions?
