Public Opinion - A singular concept made up of publics

"Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Rights." Civil Rights. Polling Report, Inc, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. .
"Public." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
McCarthy, Justin. "Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%." Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%. Gallup Research, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014. .
Baunach, Dawn Michelle. "Changing Same-Sex Marriage Attitudes in America from 1988 Through 2010." The Public Opinion Quarterly 76.2 (2012): 364-78. Web. .
"Publics." Business Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2014. .
Kalb, Marvin. "The Impact of September 11 on Public Opinion: Increased Patriotism, Unity, Support for Bush; More Interest in News." The Brookings Institution, 27 Mar. 2002. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
Kearn, David W. "Attacking ISIS: Military Force, U.S. Public Opinion and the Long War on Terrorism." The Huffington Post, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
Anderson, Monica. "Vast Majority of Blacks View the Criminal Justice System as Unfair." Fact Tank. Pew Research Center RSS, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
Turner, Ralph H., and Lewis M. Killian. Collective Behavior. 3rd ed. Canada: Pearson Education, 1987. Print.
Villanova University





Public Opinion
-A singular concept made up of publics-













Lauren Bradley
PSC 3140-001 Race, Ethnicity, & Pol. in U.S.
Professor Camille D. Burge
November 4, 2014
Public opinion consists of a cycle of ideas emerging, spreading, changing, disappearing, and in some cases, reappearing. What was once considered the "elite opinion" in the 18th and 19th century has since developed into the idea of "mass opinion." The opinion of the elite was the only one taken into consideration for quite a long time because of the thought that only well informed and educated citizens could voice their opinion through their entitlement to vote. When voting rights expanded, so did the idea of what constituted public opinion. In regards to politics and government actions today, public opinion is based on the input of individuals within society or groups through political involvement to create a majority consensus on pressing issues. There is both a "public opinion" in regards to American's consensus as a whole, as well as opinions of publics in regards to beliefs held by specified groups within the United States. In this essay I will explain the makeup of public opinion, decipher the difference of public opinion as a singular and plural concept, and exemplify differences in public opinion according to specific races.
Although the definition of public opinion varies amongst political scientists, some arguing that there are multiple and others arguing that there is just one, the makeup of public opinion is relatively agreed upon. Four distinct features must be met before public opinion is constituted: an issue must be presented to the mass population, a significant number of individuals must form an opinion on the issue, a consensus must be formed amongst a majority of the group, and that consensus agreed upon must exert influence in some way. For example, according to polls conducted by notable sources such as ABC News, the Washington Post, and the New York Times it can be argued that the public is in support of same sex marriage. With over a majority polling in favor for questions such as "Do you support or oppose allowing same-sex couples to get married?" it can be concluded that the public opinion on this topic is in favor of gay rights. An issue was presented, a significant amount of people spoke on behalf of the issue, a majority opinion was formed, and the consensus has since exerted influence on both state and national levels through the creation of laws in support of gay rights. Individuals are influenced by many factors before a consensus is made and a public opinion is established.
Public opinion on a grand scale is the aggregate, or assemblage, of American's attitudes in the United States quantified through political involvement, such as polling and surveys. "Public" as defined by Merriam Webster is, "of, relating to, or affecting all the people or the whole area of a nation or state." Thus, public opinion, without distinction of a specific group, should be the consensus of an issue from the overall makeup of the country. While many races, religious institutions, and other groups may have differing views on issues, the overall consensus of them is what constitutes public opinion by itself. For example, Gallup research identified 55% of Americans as supporters of same-sex marriage. Many factors make up these polls, including race, age, gender, party identification, and region within the country. Analyzing all of these factors allows for an accurately formed public opinion on a specific issue. There are many polls that lack a variety of factors, making the legitimacy of those polls questionable. In order to declare an opinion as being that of all Americans', many factors have to be taken into consideration and proper methods of surveying have to be undergone.
Public opinion can also be broken down to represent specific groups within society if it is defined as to whose opinion it belongs to. For example, in a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, it was found that forty percent of African Americans support gay marriage, while forty-eight percent oppose. This data represents African American's "public opinion" of same-sex marriage, but not the entirety of the American population as seen by the results of Gallup research. When conducting research to identify an opinion of a specific public, certain factors are analyzed, rather than a wide array. There are many "publics" that ultimately makeup public opinion, but who can also stand alone as having a specific opinion as a group. Publics is defined as, "Communities of people at large that have a direct or indirect association with an organization: customers, employees, investors, media, students, etc." For political science purposes, these publics are more specifically races, ethnicities, religious groups, age groups, gender, etc. If the opinion of one of these publics wants to be identified, researchers can focus in on that group. It is just as important for opinions of specific publics to be represented of the entirety of that group, as it is for all Americans in the formation of public opinion on issues. Limitations on research, such as geographically specific samples or gender specific samples, is misleading and an inaccurate representation of a public, unless that is the public they are trying to establish an opinion for.
As mentioned above, the public opinion of issues are constantly emerging, spreading, changing, disappearing, and reappearing. This is because of the ever-changing world we live in. Before the start of LGBT activism in the early 1970's, same sex marriage was not even talked about. Fast-forward forty-some years and society has become overwhelmingly in support of it. There are many factors that go into the formation of public opinion about specific issues including individual's immediate situations, social-environmental factors, and preexisting knowledge, attitudes, and values. How an immediate situation effects public opinion can be seen after the September 11th attacks on the twin towers. The public's initial opinion was to have increased international affairs by the United States, as well as to increase defense spending. With time, the public opinion of these issues shifted and other issues were put in the forefront of concern. Now with the potential threat of ISIS to the United State's national security, the argument to increase international involvement and military spending constitutes that of the public once again.
Whereas immediate situations often affect the whole of the public, social-environmental factors play a much more stringent role in opinions of publics as subgroups, such that socialization and group identity all impact an individual's beliefs. Different groups are socialized to participate in politics based on how they identify. Factors such as socio-economic status, gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion etc. all create varying political values for different groups. For example, the public opinion of African Americans in regards to same-sex marriage can be attributed to their strong protestant ties, where "homosexuality is a sin and same-sex marriage is an abomination." Although the African American race is arguably the most liberal and has the greatest ties to equality struggles in the past, their protestant religion is of great importance on issues such as same-sex marriage. This can be true of Asian Americans as well, who have strong links to the conservative Baptist traditions. The recent increased support for same-sex marriage by both of these races, which then affects the overall American support, can be attributed to another factor- the millennial generation. With young constituents becoming more politically involved and less attached to organized politics and religion compared to their older counterparts, the public opinion of groups as well as the country are changing.
As put by Turner and Killian, "a public is a dispersed group of people interested and divided about an issue, engaged in a discussion of the issue, with a view to registering a collective opinion which is expected to affect the course of action of some group or individual." Because the public is an ensemble of "publics", the opinions of those individual publics are combined to make up the public opinion of Americans in the United States. Public opinion cannot be formed without understanding the components that make it up – the publics, which can range from different races, ethnicities, religions, ages, political identification, and so much more.


Works Cited
Anderson, Monica. "Vast Majority of Blacks View the Criminal Justice System as Unfair." Fact Tank. Pew Research Center RSS, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
Baunach, Dawn Michelle. "Changing Same-Sex Marriage Attitudes in America from 1988 Through 2010." The Public Opinion Quarterly 76.2 (2012): 364-78. Web. .
Kalb, Marvin. "The Impact of September 11 on Public Opinion: Increased Patriotism, Unity, Support for Bush; More Interest in News." The Brookings Institution, 27 Mar. 2002. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
Kearn, David W. "Attacking ISIS: Military Force, U.S. Public Opinion and the Long War on Terrorism." The Huffington Post, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
McCarthy, Justin. "Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%." Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%. Gallup Research, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014. .
"Public." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
"Publics." Business Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
"Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Rights." Civil Rights. Polling Report, Inc, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. .
Turner, Ralph H., and Lewis M. Killian. Collective Behavior. 3rd ed. Canada: Pearson Education, 1987. Print.





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