Peffley, PS 473, Public Opinion

Lecture Outline II: EMPIRICAL BASES OF PUBLIC OPINION: Testing Democratic Theories

I. How Politically Sophisticated Is The Mass Public? Should Elites Listen to Public Opinion?

A. How Politically Sophisticated Is The Mass Public?

1. Democratic Elitists’ arguments and evidence: public lacks information, lacks opinions, lacks commitment, irrational, politically intolerant, and education and participation haven’t helped.

2. Representative democratic theorists

a) Rational ignorance

b) Heuristic reasoning

c) Collective rationality

3. Consequences of political knowledge

B. Is the Public Politically Tolerant?

1. Political tolerance defined, distinguished from social tolerance

2. Relationship between political tolerance and political repression

3. Political tolerance in democratic theories: What predictions do these theories make about the levels and sources of political tolerance among masses and elites that we can "test" with the available survey data? What "solutions" to political repression and political intolerance do these theories prescribe? Which theory “fits the facts” the best?

a) Representative Theory (e.g., J. S. Mill): tolerance important to: protect individual autonomy, get at the "truth," enhance true choice, realize Natural Rights. Faith in the masses.

b) Democratic Elitism: can't depend on irrational and intolerant masses for tolerance; must place faith in political elites instead.

c) Madisonian Democracy: distrust masses and elites; places faith in democratic institutions and pluralism (pluralistic intolerance) to condition tolerance and to prohibit intolerance among masses and elites.

4. Evidence

a) Support for general principles versus political tolerance toward disliked groups

b) McCarthy "Red Scare" in the United States: Implications for all three theories. (Stouffer, Gibson)

c) Contemporary Survey Studies

(1) Least-liked measure of political tolerance as a two-step process of assessing political tolerance: a) who is your least-liked group? b) should a member of the group be allowed to ….? (Sullivan, et al, 1982)

(2) Political tolerance in comparative perspective. Are political elites more tolerant than the mass public, and if so, why? (Sullivan, et al, 1993)

(3) Potential sources of political intolerance:

(a) Support for general principle of tolerance (i.e., civil liberties: "I believe in free speech/letting anyone run for office/giving a speech, no matter what their views are"). Generally high acceptance at the abstract level, but fairly low tolerance when these principles are applied to least-liked groups.

(b) Personality: Dogmatism (e.g., closed-mindedness: "there are two types of people, those who are for the truth and those who are against the truth")

(c) Social Ideology: Social Conformity vs Autonomy (e.g., “People need to learn to fit in and get along with others.” “Obeying rules and fitting in are signs of a strong and healthy society.”)

(d) Perceived threat of target group (e.g., ratings of group as "dangerous," "violent," or "untrustworthy"—i.e., belligerent or treacherous)

(e) Political involvement?

(f) Social Background Characteristics (e.g., education, gender, etc.). Generally, only an indirect effect on degree of tolerance, operating through other factors, like personality or social conservatism.

(4) Should support for the Patriot Act, which restricts freedoms, be considered political intolerance?

d) Summary Questions: how do these findings affect support for the democratic theories? In other words: Which democratic theory fits the "facts" (i.e., survey and historical evidence) the best? Which theory should be used to prescribe solutions for coping with intolerance and preventing political repression?