Term
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Definition
| Citizens’ views on politics and government action |
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Term
| Level of Conceptualization |
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Definition
| The amount of complexity in an individual’s beliefs about government and policy, and the extent to which those beliefs are consistent with each other and remain consistent over time. |
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Term
| Liberal-conservative ideology |
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Definition
| A way of describing political beliefs in terms of a position on the spectrum running from liberal to moderate to conservative |
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Term
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Definition
| An opinion formed on the spot, when it is needed (as distinct from a deeply held opinion that is stable over time) |
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Term
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Definition
| A way of forming a political opinion in which a person develops a preference regarding a candidate, party, or policy but does not remember the original reasons behind the preference |
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Term
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Definition
| The many pieces of information a person uses to form an opinion |
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Term
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Definition
| The process by which an individual’s political opinions are shaped by other people and the surrounding culture |
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Term
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Definition
| A way to measure public opinion by interviewing a large sample of the population |
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Term
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Definition
| The group of people that a researcher or pollster wants to study, such as evangelicals, senior citizens, or Americans |
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Term
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Definition
| Within a population, the group of people surveyed in order to gauge the whole population’s opinion. Researchers use samples because it would be impossible to interview the entire population |
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Term
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Definition
| A survey response format in which respondents select their answers from a range of positions between two extremes |
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Term
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Definition
| A subsection of a population chosen to participate in a survey through a selection process in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen. This kind of sampling improves the accuracy of public opinion data |
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Term
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Definition
| A calculation that describes what percentage of the people surveyed may not accurately represent the population being studied. Increasing the number of respondents lowers the sampling error |
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Term
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Definition
| The effect on public opinion when many citizens move away from moderate positions and toward either end of the political spectrum, identifying themselves as either liberals or conservatives |
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Term
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Definition
| The level of public support for expanding the government’s role in society; whether the public wants government action on a specific issue |
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