Ambivalence

A state of mind produced when particular issues evoke attitudes and beliefs that pull one in opposite directions

Cognitive Shortcut

A mental device allowing citizens to make complex decisions based on a small amount of information. For example, a candidate’s party label serves as a shortcut by telling voters much about his or her positions on issues.

Conservative

In the United States, a proponent of a political ideology that favors small or limited government, an unfettered free market, self-reliance, and traditional social norms.

Core Values

Moral beliefs held by citizens that underlie their attitudes toward political and other issues. As integral parts of an individual’s identity, these beliefs are stable and resistant to change.

liberal

In the United States, a proponent of a political ideology that favors extensive government action to redress social and economic inequalities and tolerates social behaviors that conservatives view as deviant. In the present-day they advocate policies benefiting the poor, minority groups, labor unions, women, and the environment and oppose government imposition of traditional social norms.

measurement error

Uncertainties in public opinion, as revealed by responses to polls, that arise from the imperfect connection between the wording of survey questions and the terms in which people understand and think about political objects.

opinion leader

A citizen who is highly attentive to and involved in politics or some sub-area of it and to whom other citizens turn for political information and cues.

prime

The news media’s influence on how citizens make political judgments, through emphasis on particular stories.

scientific polling

Tool developed in the twentieth century for systematically investigating the opinions of ordinary people, based on random samples.