Political Belief System

• a persons political cognitions together with those with which they are constrained
• what they do and don't have knowledge about
• three dimensions
• size
• depth of what we know
• range
• the range of issues in which we are politically knowledgeable whether accurate or true
• organization
• how the political beliefs relate to one another
• similarities, contradictions

Political Knowledge Sources

• who do we learn political education outside the classroom?
• political elites!
• politicians 
• government officials
• journalists
• activists
• experts and policy specialists
• second hand
• friends
• family members
• info is steming from political elites

Political Knowledge 

• people with very low levels of political knowledge can only have the haziest idea of the policy alternatives about which pollsters regularly ask them to state opinions, and such ideas as they do have must often be relatively innocent of the effects exposure to elite discourse

Political Elites

• politicians
• goal is to implement preffered policy
• more likely to discuss themes and use rhetoric
• facts to support and dramatize their stance
• journalist
• seek to gain and retain audience members
• report on event and personal narrative
• vivid description rather than dissemination of fact