Polling the Attentive Public

Abstract

Public opinion as reported by polls can be misleading when it concerns issues about which the general public knows or cares little. On such issues the views of those most interested or involved deserve special attention. Survey data show that those who follow the news about a particular issue or issue area very closely—the “attentive public”—differ in personal characteristics and often in their opinions from both the general public and from the best-educated. Further, opinions of the attentive public are often better informed and more predictive of policy trends than are the views of the general public. By reporting attentive public opinion separately, pollsters can encourage policy makers to pay greater attention to it.

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References

and Robert Weissberg , Public Opinion and Popular Government (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1976), pp. 246-248.

In this New York Times/CBS News poll, results were reported separately for the informed and the uniformed and showed major differences in opinion.

Harold F. Gosnell , “The Polls and Other Mechanisms of Democracy,” Public Opinion Quarterly 4:224-228 (June 1940).

4. The Harris Survey, 1983: no. 47, 13 June 1983.

5. The Harris Survey, 1983: no. 48, 16 June 1983.

6. Eurobarometer No. 5 (Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, July 1976), pp. 1-2, describes an opinion leadership index.

7. Karlyn H. Keene and Victoria A. Sackett , “An Editor's Report on the Yankelovich, Skelly and White Mushiness Index,” Public Opinion, 4:2, 50-51 (Apr.-May 1981).

8. Public Opinion in the European Community (Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, June 1980), pp. 28-35.

and Donald Devine , Attentive Public.

10.

10. Devine , Attentive Public, p. 122.

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11. Ibid., chap. 5.

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12. Three studies referred to news about “national defense and security;” one each to “defense/security affairs,”“relations between own country and other countries,” and “international affairs.” USIA data sets can be obtained from the National Archives one or two years after field work completion.

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13. Devine , Attentive Public, p. 73.

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14. Based on December 1982 USIA surveys. The German TOPED sample included those who had completed Abitur, which is equivalent to about one year beyond American high school.

15.

15. Devine , Attentive Public, p. 75.

16.

and Douglas A. Wertman , “Italian Attitudes on Foreign Policy Issues: Are There Generational Differences?” in The Successor Generation: International Perspectives of Postwar Europeans, ed. Szabo (London: Butterworths, 1983).

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17. Devine . Attentive Public, pp. 59-64.