Science Of Public Opinion Essay

Public opinion is defined in the text as “the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues” (Edwards, Wattenberg, and Lineberry 150). On paper, it sounds so simple; in reality it is much more difficult to determine. The most common method for ascertaining and consolidating public opinion has been through the widespread use of polls. Their popularity has steadily increased over the years. One reason is that they provide an accurate, reliable representation of the opinions of an entire population and supply decision-makers with valuable insight that may be used to determine a future course of action. However, not all polls are created equal. Polls

Many historians have written about the use of propaganda over the centuries, but very few have written about how the effects of mass media has affected the American publics opinion of the government during times of war. Historians have written a lot about how mass media has increased over time, yet they have not made the correlation between the effective use of propaganda and public favor, or the ineffective use of propaganda and public distrust. The types of mass media articles that will be investigated will be articles on print media (magazines, pamphlets), posters,

According to Kimberly Amadeo, negative comments regarding the ACA outnumber positive ones fifteen-to-one (par. 1). This statistic demonstrates that the negativity directed at Obamacare greatly exceeds the positivity. Even after three whole years, fifty-four percent of people still oppose Obamacare. Minds of the public have not shifted much over a long period of time; people’s minds do not change easily. A federal healthcare system, while many oppose the government’s involvement, is still hard to implement without any major problems, but the ACA’s backlash unbelievably surpasses all

In what ways did the medium of television news shape U.S. public opinion from 1945 to 2000? In

In the late 1950s and into the 1960s responsibility played a large role in how news was distributed. Three television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, were among the outlets with formally trained news anchors who brought forth a sense of unity in the country. But, as the years progressed and people began to develop special interests, the ways news was relayed transformed (Turow, 1997, p. 40).

Opening the book, Postman explains how he will fulfill showing that a “great media-metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense” (pg. 16). There are two major points First: under the printing press, discourse In America was different from what it is now—generally coherent, serious, rational. Second: under the governance of television, it has become withered. This made me think about how much media affects us on a daily basis.

The popularity of television developed in the 1950’s, but the power of television as a medium secured its place in the 1960’s. This is demonstrated statistically in a Roper research poll aimed to investigate American television habits and related attitudes (Small 12). Adult participants were asked how they received most of their news about world current events and were then given options including television, newspapers, magazines or radio. In 1959, 57% identified newspapers over television; by 1969, television had taken the lead as the preferred source as stated by 64% of individuals (13). Participants were also asked which source they would be more inclined to believe if they experienced conflicting reports of the same news story. In the 1959 poll, the results showed television slightly behind newspapers, but the 1969 responses showed an increase of 44% choosing television as a more trusted source over 21% identifying newspapers. Again, the enchantment with television was revealed when more than half of the respondents identified TV as the option most likely to keep if forced to choose between the four previously mentioned mediums (13). The changes exhibited over a decade reveal the public’s budding dependence on television broadcast news.

Edward R. Murrow’s reporting style, established in both radio and television, has had a profound and lasting effect on broadcast journalism and the newscast format. In addition to developments like the news round-up, one major innovation of Murrow’s continues to play a crucial role in news reporting, particularly of the 2016 election, and that is the compilation and employment of previous media products, such as radio and television recordings, and news publications, in order to conceptualize, analyze, and lampoon a contemporary political figure, as exemplified by Murrow’s report on Joseph McCarthy. The preservation of this reporting style throughout media’s transitions, television’s in particular,

The unofficial actor for healthcare was the media. The media played a major role that educated and influenced the U.S. citizens about the new healthcare act known as the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act. According to Pew Research Center Publications, “Healthcare coverage was the No. 1 story in the mainstream press from June 2009 through March 2010.”(pg.1, 2012) It became a big topic for many talk shows and news segments. Pew Research Center Publications also stated, “Opponents of health care legislation won the message war. A Nexis search of key terms in the health care debate finds that opponents ' terms appeared almost twice as often (about 18,000 times) as supporters ' top terms (about 11,000). In short, the opponents ' attacks on government-run healthcare resonated more widely than the supporters ' attacks on the insurance industry.” (pg.1, 2012) Even if the message about healthcare was positive or negative, the topic of healthcare was still relevant and helped influence many Americans in different ways.

President Obama proposed a health care plan that will allow every American to have substantial health care coverage. When discussing Obama’s healthcare plan, there are lobbyist that support and some that are against his healthcare policy. Lobbyists are activist that intend to persuade members of the government to enact legislation in order to benefit their group of interest. (Nadler, 2006) Lobbyists do not just select the topic of the moment to lobby for, instead they have done sufficient and adequate research and analyzed legislation to determine which issues are most important.

“Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room.” Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian philosopher of communication theory, told the Montreal Gazette in 1975. Vietnam is often referred to as the television war and it’s been widely said that the outcome of the war was decided not on the battle field but on the television screen. Today I will be exploring the extent to which media reporting on the Tet Offensive influenced US crucial decision making in 1968. The aspects that I will be investigating are; the media coverage of the war and it’s influence on public opinion as well as how the result of these two aspects impacted on how the government formed their decisions.

The objective of the investigation is to determine to what extent the American news media affected the support and result of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Conflict was officially recognized as a war beginning in 1955, but it was not until the 1960s that U.S. news outlets began coverage on the conflict in Vietnam. Before this era, the news was mainly concerned with reporting issues that had to do with Communism and the Cold War with the USSR. It wasn 't until the North Vietnamese 's communist efforts were more widely known that the U.S. media started covering the issue. Therefore, the investigation will begin around this time period. It will cover how the media affected the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon

What is public opinion? How does public opinion form? How does it relate to agents of political socialization? Public opinion is what the public thinks about an issue or a particular set of issues (Collins 1). The issues are normally measured by opinion polls. The opinion palls consist of interviews, telephone, and internet surveys of a variety of citizens take to estimate how they feel about an issue. These techniques are used to influence our voting since the 1930’s. Newspapers were a main material that was used to, not only predict elections, but to persuade the voters. Another technique that was used was the Gallup Organization in 1936 which successfully predicted elections and continued until 2012. Other techniques such as Literary Digest, The American Voters, Boston Globe, Public Opinion (1922), Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Fahrenheit 911, and Federalist Papers were used as an effort to influence public opinion.

At the beginning of television news an arrangement existed between television journalists and the public. It was look at as that in modern times promotion journalism was normal. The United States was the modern, broadminded leader of the free world. When Walter Cronkite reported on the daily count of deaths of American soldiers in Vietnam, in lead to the antiwar disapprovals of the 1960s. One man changed how the United States look at the war with his power and influence to change people opinions. (Mann)

Between 1960 and today, there have been many milestones in mass media and the way it has been presented to us. In the 1960’s television sets were becoming very popular in many households across America. The first televised presidential debate took place on September 26, 1960. “1963: Polls show more Americans report that they rely on television rather than newspapers as their primary source for news.” (“1963: Polls show…” PBS, n.d.) With the television becoming the new medium for people to gain information, this was a major milestone in how information was gathered and perceived. Also in the 1960’s the first stages of development of the internet began. Early computers were also being produced. This had set the stage for upcoming years in technology that would affect the experience of presidential elections by all.