Public Opinion and Public Policy

3 Credits.

This course will examine public opinion and its role in public policymaking. The course will begin with an analysis of theories of public opinion formation and the role of public opinion in a democratic society. We’ll then discuss the measurement of opinion, including the use of surveys, experiments, focus groups, and social media to gather information about public opinion. This section of the course will explore the fundamentals of opinion research, including survey methodology, interpreting survey results, and the presentation of opinion data. The course will then examine how the public makes sense of economic, domestic, and foreign policy issues, and the influence of opinion on policymaking in these areas. As part of the course, students will have the opportunity to analyze polls and surveys on policies of interest to them and assess government responsiveness on these issues.