The American public is continuously confronted by a politicalworld composed of multiple
stimuli: at any point in time, there are a number of issues on the public agenda; in modern …

History is replete with cases wiiere people have worked hard as individuals and groups for
causes they regarded as important; these efforts have ranged in intensity from simple …

An eminent social psychologist assesses past and potential contributions of psychology to
an understanding of public opinion, and emphasizes the need for psychologists to join …

There has been much advancement in the field of public opinion research in the past few
years, particularly with respect to the formation of policy attitudes in response to elite …

The role of public opinion polls in electoral democracy is undeniable because, for good or
for bad, they affect, in part, the kinds of laws and policies elected officials enact. But the …

Ideology is a central concept in research on American public opinion, yet it continues to be
used in crude ways. Recognizing both the widespread use of the seven-point scale, and its …

Members of different social groups often hold distinctive political attitudes. Research shows
substantial divides based on characteristics like religion, race, gender, and sexuality …

Most Americans lack any substantial degree of ideological sophistication (Kinder 1998), yet
they often manage to express coherent views across a range of issues. The conventional …

Political psychologists have long searched for links between citizens' personality
characteristics and their political worldviews. In particular, much research has examined the …

Political democracy assumes that citizens can form consistent political attitudes that guide
their political actions, thereby communicating political preferences to elites. Responding to …