Unit 3 -26I. Analyze the influence of media coverage, campaign advertising, and public opinion polls on election results

1. Unit 3 -26I. Analyze the influence of media coverage, campaign advertising, and public opinion polls on election results Matt Silva and Logan Garletts 1st

2. Media Coverage • “mirrors or molders” of public opinion. • medium- is a means of communication; it transmits some kind of information • Media is the plural of medium

3. T.V., newspaper, radio, and magazine are the most impactful media sources • mass media is not a part of government • media does not primarily exist to influence the government • media presents people with political information

4. the media provides a large amount of political information less directly by things such as articles about issues likes health care, crime, etc. • media helps shape public agenda

5. public agenda- the societal problems that government officials need to address

6. Campaign advertising • private contributors and public treasury two main sources of funding • small contributors- only 10% of people voting age make contributions

7. Wealthy individuals and family make many contributions • Candidates themselves make contributions • Various non-party groups such as political action committes(PACs) PACs- political arms of special- interest and other organizations with a stake in electoral politics

8. Temporary organizations- groups formed for the immediate purposes of a campaign • Public Funds- subsidies from the federal and some state treasuries • subsidy- grant of money • campaign donations are a form of political participation

9. Congress began to regulate campaign funding in 1907 • The federal election commission(FEC) administers all federal law dealing with campaign finance

10. Today no person can gave more than $2100 to a federal candidate a primary election, no more than $5000 in any year to apolitical action committee, or $26,700 to a national party committee • Limits on expenditures began in 1925 due to Buckley v. Valeo

11. Congress first began to provide for the public funding of presidential campaigns in the Revenue Act of 1971 • hard money- money raised and spent to elect candidates for Congress and the White House

12. Soft Money- funds given to party organizations

13. Public Opinion Polls • public opinion polls- devices that attempt to collect information by asking people questions • straw vote-used in the early 1930s polls that read the same question to a large group

14. Scientific polling began in the mid 1930s with the efforts of George Gallup and Elmo Roper • more than 1,000 regional polling organizations in the U.S.

15. The polling process is 5 steps • Define the universe whole population) to be surveyed • construct a sample • prepare valid questions • select and control how the poll will be taken

16. 5) analyze and report their finding to the public • sample- a representative slice of the total universe • random sample are more effective • quota sample- a sample deliberately constructed to reflect several characteristics of a given universe

17. quota sample- a sample deliberately constructed to reflect several characteristics of a given universe