First Paper: Political Attitudes On An Issue of Your Choice

In this paper, your job will be to assess public opinion in the United States on one issue that you choose.

It is important that you take into account the fact that different ways of asking questions get very different -- sometimes radically different -- responses. Therefore you will need to find several different questions about some policy area that you choose. Some suggestions might be:

• War With Iraq
• NASA Funding
• Gun Control
• Patriot Act
• Privitization of Social Security
• Affirmative Action Preferences
• Campaign Finance
• Tax Cuts
• Foreign Aid
• Government Medical Insurance
• Gay Marriage
• Environmental Regulation

Sources

First, the old reliable Google Search. Note that you will need to include "public opinion" or "political attitudes" in your query. The most recent polls reported by news organizations are best discovered by searching Google News.

http://csa.berkeley.edu:7502/archive.htm -- allows demographic breakdowns.

National Election Studies

The Gallup Poll

The Roper Center

The above link will only work on campus, unless you log into the library's proxy server.

Public Agenda Online

Program on International Policy Attitudes

Polling the Nations

The above link will only work on campus, unless you log into the library's proxy server.

The Polling Report

Copernicus Election Watch | Public Opinion Polls

GovSpot -- Polls and Opinions

Americans & the World

Pew Research Center

Washington Post Poll Vault

The paper should consist of the following elements:

• Explain what issue you are studying. You will need to be precise. Avoid subjects that are excessively broad. Don't study "abortion," study "the belief that a woman should be able to get a legal abortion whenever she wants one." Don't study "social welfare opinions," study "attitudes toward welfare spending." Don't study "school choice," study "school choice involving religious schools" (or some such). Don't study "gun control," study "renewal of the assault weapons ban."
• Explain how the issue matters. Has it been an issue in the Presidential campaign? The subject of a recent court decision? On the ballot as a referendum item in several states? Something that doesn't yet seem to have any political importance, but is likely to in the future?
• Find several polls on the topic you are studying.
• If there are differences in the poll results, discuss how differences in question wording and format may be producing these differences.
• Consider the issue of salience. Look for polls that show how much people care about the particular issue. Polls that ask people what the "most important problem" facing the nation are good for this purpose.
• Look for polls that register intensity of opinion. Are people on one side of an issue more intense than people on the other side.
• Provide a summary statement as to what Americans believe on the issue in question. It's possible that American's are "for" or "against" a particular policy, but it's also possible that you will find it "impossible to tell" or find that "most Americans don't seem to have an opinion" or that "most Americans don't seem to care."