PLS 302
Public Opinion and American Democracy
Roger C. Lowery, Ph.D.

Textbook
Chapter Outlines
& Handouts


  1.  Public Opinion in the Democratic Societies
           · PowerPoint review handout

  2.  Polling: The Scientific Assessment of Public Opinion
          · PowerPoint review handout
           · Two Basic Summary Statistics
          · The Case for Weighting Partisan Identification
  3.  Micro-level Opinion: The Psychology of Opinion Holding
          · Political Ideology handout
           · Political Personality Test

  4.  Macro-level Opinion: The Flow of Political Sentiment
           · PowerPoint review handout
          · Job Approval for 2-Term Presidents
          · Policy Mood

  5.  Political Socialization and Political Learning
          · Educational attainment, adults 25-64 years of age
  6.  Public Opinion and Democratic Society
          · The Iraq Syndrome
  7.  Group Differences in Political Opinions
          · Religion & Politics in the 2012 Presidential Election

  8.  The News Media and Political Opinions

  9.  Elections as Instruments of Popular Culture 
          · The misguided theories behind Citizens United v. FEC.
           · Citizens United paved the way for the return of soft money
           · Voter Turnout Study

10.  The Public and Its Elected Representatives

11.  Public Opinion and the Performance of Democracy