Polarization of Public Opinion

Public opinion, as discussed in class and read within the book, is an essential part of making sure democracy runs as it is intended. Public opinion is the “collective” voice of the people that the government must adhere to. People have attitudes about certain problems and instances in the government and society that form said public opinion. The process of forming these attitudes is political socialization. However, there are many factors in the socialization known as, agents of socialization. These agents include, race and ethnicity, social class, region, education, party affiliation and so on. Looking at current situations in society it is very clear how these agents play a role in everyday politics.

For example, the protests in the NFL. There has been great controversy about NFL players kneeling before or during the National Anthem. Depending on where or who you hear it from, it may seem like a great thing or the worst thing that has every happened the NFL. Facebook is being flooded with posts about boycotting the NFL until NFL players respecting flag, or on the other side, posts saying that this movement should be spreading around other sports leagues. However, the numbers show a different story. There are many different lenses to look at this situation, the first of which can just be the matter of whether the protests are right or wrong. Only 36% percent of Americans say that protests during the National Anthem are inappropriate. However, President Trump made several statements calling said plays SOB’s and saying they should be fired. If the president is supposed to be reflecting the public opinion, he’s not doing an exemplary job. However, if one were to look at this situation through a party lens they would see that over 90% of Trump supporters find the protests inappropriate. This leads to the question of who the President truly works to please. If the president’s job is to reflect the opinion of the people who put him in office, then he his doing a fantastic job. This also leads to another point of how influential the public is on government and vice versa. It would be interesting if Trump supporter were what they thought of the protests before and after he made his comments to see who truly influenced who.

Another lens to look at this situation through is race and ethnicity. The majority of the players in the NFL are black, about 70%. So, it is not surprising that a protest about racial injustice is heavily favored by players in the league. This carries over into the viewers as well. White Americans are 54% more likely to think the protests are inappropriate, 34% more likely to consider it a serious problem of sorts, and 23% more likely to support firing those who kneel. The connection can be made here that whites supported Trump as a much higher rate than minorities did, and also support disciplines against protesters at a higher rate.

Public Opinion is heavily influenced by the agents of socialization, and it is clear to see that some of these agents are very connected to one another. Party affiliation, religion, race, and social class are constantly connected to another and they all have huge and sometimes identical influences on how public opinion is formed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/americans-dont-like-the-nfl-protests-but-they-really-dont-like-trumps-response_us_59cbe8dfe4b05063fe0e933fs

5 Responses to "Polarization of Public Opinion"

Matthew Lidz says:

October 9, 2017 at 4:22 pm

Omar, I agree with your points about how agents of socialization are linked to the polarization of public opinion. However, I believe that you are overlooking a major reason for our polarized society today, the fragmentation of the media. Although this may be overly simplistic, 40 or 50 years ago, the three major television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and the major national newspapers (NY Times, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal) held greater influence over what was newsworthy compared to today. More or less, everyone received information from the same sources and agreed on the same basic set of facts. The rise of cable TV and the internet inadvertently allowed consumers to filter out any information that did not match their political beliefs. Liberal Americans can choose to watch MSNBC and read the Huffington Post while conservative Americans can choose to watch Fox News and read Breitbart. Social media algorithms mean that liberals will only see ads and news stories that confirm their beliefs and vice versa. Through this lens, the rise of polarization is inevitable since most people no longer get the information from the same sources. How can people agree on anything if there is no longer a consensus on what the facts are?
Margaret Castelli says:

October 10, 2017 at 1:09 pm

I really enjoyed your conversation of public opinion in relation to the NFL protests; it was extremely well researched. There is one point in your post that I would like to expand upon, that idea of who affects who. In many cases, Trump supporters are portrayed in the media as mindless drones who follow and agree with the president’s every word and action. However, to get elected, President Trump had to speak on some level to his supporters before they “followed him mindlessly.” Donald Trump is really a president built on drastic public opinions. His ideas of building a wall or banning people from Muslim countries came to the forefront of his campaign and presidency because the people he was speaking to liked them.
President Trump has been highly criticized throughout the first year of his presidency and for good reason. However, as you mention, for his supporters, Trump really embodies the ideas of politicians following public opinions. He is really doing what he does in order to keep his supporters happy, though it may in many ways isolate those who do not agree. This is an important side to note, but I will not discuss it in this post today.
Emily Dunbar says:

October 10, 2017 at 9:58 pm

I really liked your argument about the polarization of public opinion, it is very true and mind boggling to see the numbers of who Trump is actually representing. Trump as you said should be representing the views of the whole country, however if he is just representing the people who agree with him and put him in office, is democracy really working. In this example of the NFL, the fact that the African American football players are participating in this protest on racial injustice is understandable, they are voicing their opinions on how their government is working. They have that right to protest this racial injustice, this idea is supported under our system of democratic government, and we strive to ride the country of this inequality and racism. The fact that White Americans view this as inappropriate, I do not understand, racism is still a raging issue in society today, especially with a president who makes racist comments himself. This racism needs to be addressed and the NFL has that right. White Americans should support them in order to create equality that our government strives to achieve.
Christopher Barry says:

October 10, 2017 at 10:38 pm

I found it really interesting how you were able to bring in public opinion and the specific data regarding the public opinion to the protests in the NFL. Sometimes, through watching the news and using social media, we get this vague understanding of what the two contrasting, polarized views are. Through the data you presented, a clearer picture comes into view. In regards to the polarization and deeply divided public opinion, you brought up an excellent point that I would like to examine further.
The question of who the president represents has always had an understanding in the theoretical and the practical realms. In the theoretical area, the president is supposed to represent all of the people. In the practical area, the president represents those that go him elected. Both have their groundings. Based on a firm understanding of democratic principles and the US Constitution, the president should be a voice and an executive on behalf of all the people despite if they elected some people or not. However, in practice, the president needs to (or attempt to) accomplish the platform in which got them elected, especially during a president’s first one hundred days, or honeymoon period. This conflict of interest defines a president. Traditionally, a president tries to balance and compromise between these varying of interests. However, as American becomes more polarized and in order to appease their base, presidents, and even representatives, have become stingier and unwilling to compromise. As shown by President Trump, he has shown very little interest in compromise unless he believes he can get the better side of the compromise. For example, Trump has demanded certain compensations like the border wall for the Dreamers program.
A possible solution in regards to the question of who a president represents could be a president that considers both sides of the spectrum and thus still representing the people that elected them and all the people. The single, definitive way to do that would be through compromise within (in regards to how a certain issue is handled) and outside issues (in regards to what issues are dealt with and trading which version gets voiced).
Alyssa Holt says:

October 11, 2017 at 4:13 pm

I think it is very important as you point out that President Trump is speaking to please the people that elected him president and not considering the country in its entirety. One of the things I want to draw attention to is the concept of majority rule and how it relates to a president’s role, particularly as it relates to Trump. Since, assuming the 7 conditions of political sovereignty exist (which we know is not completely the case but lets assume it is), decisions and elections are supposed to be determined by what the majority of the country wants, is it fair to claim that the president is supposed to represent everyone in the country, including those who did not support him? Considering Trump was elected as president, the assumption should then be that the majority of Americans wanted this, so by pleasing the people that voted for him, is Trump not representing what the majority of Americans wanted.
I understand that it is far more complex than simple the majority elected him so the majority of people must approve of all of Trump’s actions, especially when he has refused to accept a typical presidential role and made himself more of a reality TV star. I still think it is important to consider that whichever party or person is elected should in theory be representing the majority of the country on issues where there is a clear divide.

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