Public Opinion And Factions

Public opinion, the political attitudes and core beliefs held by ordinary people is a huge driving factor towards the creation of factions. Political factions recently have played huge roles in the election of the president and other elections since the presidential election. Many people have noted that since Trump began his presidential campaign, the KKK, Alt-Right and Neo-Nazis have become very vocal in politics. This is because Trump’s rhetoric has touched certain groups of people in ways no other politician has before. Many non-politicals have begun to form strong opinions on politics because of Trump and therefore have banded together through their public opinions to create factions. Public opinions are formed through agents of socialization like one’s family, schools and popular culture; therefore, people tend to flock towards the people who share the same political opinions as them and create factions. For example, as we watched in the movie in class, a community of people recognized an issue with immigrants entering their township and formed a public opinion on the issue. Many people in the community did not want the immigrants to enter their town and so they created their own political faction to represent their opinion to the government of Farmingville. Other people who shared the same public opinion that it was not right to kick out the immigrants formed their own political faction as well to have their say in the Farmingville government. Voting on legislation that would deal with the issue of immigration in Farmingville took place and the heads of the factions who were in government got to vote on the issue. It is very important to pay attention to the public opinion in the place you live because when issues are large enough, people tend to split up into different factions that can dictate the political climate of one’s town on a small scale and of course the presidential election on a larger scale. The way polling people collect their data on public opinion through surveys and polls is also very important because it gives political scientists indications on what issues are important to what regions and can allow politicians to campaign better in those regions knowing what the people’s public opinions are.

4 Responses to "Public Opinion And Factions"

Allison McLaughlin says:

October 11, 2017 at 2:49 pm

I think you pointed out a very important point in relation to today’s political climate, which is that Trump’s presidency has brought out a new sense of public opinion in our country. He has inspired apoliticals and people that were previously not interested in politics to vote and become interested in the happenings of our country. I think the problem with this, however, is that while those people are now suddenly interested in politics, they are not necessarily informed with accurate information. In many ways, Trump’s rhetoric has created a dangerous environment in terms of public opinion. Many people hear his rhetorics regarding immigrants, for example, and think their opinions of immigrants are facts. They might hear negative thoughts towards non-Americans, and believe that immigrants are truly bad people that commit crimes (when this is clearly false). Trump’s presidency has also influenced public opinion in making people distrust our government even more than usual and feel stronger liberal views. While public opinion plays a large role in government, I think it is also interesting to examine the effect that the rhetoric/possibly misleading sentiments of government officials can have on public opinion.
Daniel Bonaventura says:

October 11, 2017 at 9:48 pm

It is important to remember that factions have been a part of our country since it’s origins and will always exist. Factions are not always bad, and are present on both sides of the political sphere. I agree that the recent election has brought to the surface some of the more extreme factions in our country. In this manner the emergence of factions can be quite concerning. However, I do not believe that factions are the driving force of our elections. Not only are factions small but also they exist in many forms. Because there are so many small factions on so many different issues, groups like the KKK and the Neo Nazis are not what drive elections. These small factions instead make up the parts of the larger political parties whose other members ideas may differ from them on a great many issues. In conclusion, these small factions rarely sway the ideas of non extremists in both parties. For example, most educated people would not see a neo-nazi protest and decide to vote republican because of it. These factions motives are distinct to small groups of people by nature and do not affect the decisions of others who have different priorities.
Austin Liptrot says:

October 11, 2017 at 10:57 pm

In class we talked about people associating themselves with certain groups or people instead of creating their own opinions because it is easier. Factions allow people to join groups that may match some of their political beliefs and can easily influence their members to support ideas that they may not fully understand. As you said in your blog posting that Donald Trump has excited certain factions because of some of his actions, but this may be affecting people to associate with him more easily than had they thoroughly understood his politics. Clearly, he has invigorated some nativists groups. This however, may not be a failure of democracy. It is unreasonable for all citizens to review all government actions. If some politician can gain support from groups through some actions, it makes sense to use that to their advantage. While increasing civic knowledge may help voters discern more easily between runners, it may never prevent this shortcut that creates an investment with participators. Factions, while sometimes dangerous, can increase political participation.
Reid Chenault says:

October 12, 2017 at 12:10 am

I think this post touches on a very important detail in the political culture today. As many know, President Trump has started a movement from the far right side of the political spectrum. These public opinions could have not only been sprung by their community’s agent of socialization, but by the idea of relating themselves with President Trump. Because Trump came from a strictly business background, many of the blue-collar, working class individuals felt that they had more in common than with the highly educated politicians of todays society. Along with the idea of the being a business man, these people, in my opinion, loved the ruggedness from President Trump. This factor has very much to do with the people’s agent of socialization from where they were raised. In rural towns it is obvious that the people like a more rugged and stubborn leader who is not afraid of what he/she is saying. These people tend to think that shows power, and they look to follow that aspect. The idea of relating to President Trump and their agents of socialization could be the reasons some of the “Neo-Nazi” and “Alt-Right” groups have formed today.

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