Chapter 7: Public Opinion at Home and Abroad

Exercises

Exploring Presidential Approval and Foreign Policy

1. Access presidential approval ratings via the Election 2004 link on the Web site for the Roper Center for Public Opinion at www.ropercenter.uconn.edu .

2. Use the pull-down menu that allows you to select a president and pick two different presidents for comparison. Look at the data in the “Approve” and “Disapprove” columns for each president during the first months and year of measurement. Then compare their approval and disapproval numbers in the middle of their presidencies and at the end of their time in office.

3. What are some of the trends you noticed? Do both presidents follow the same pattern of popularity and approval? Recall the trustee and delegate models of public opinion and influence: which model applies to the presidents you chose? Do you believe there is any influence between these models and the approval ratings?

4. Use the timelines and chronologies from the textbook (in Chapter 2) to identify the main foreign-policy events for the presidents you have selected. What are the trends and numbers for presidential approval and disapproval before, during, and after some of these major foreign-policy events?

Understanding the Attitudes of the Elite versus the Mass Public

Note: This exercise requires you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to access the survey and results. If you do not have the program installed, you can download this free program at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html .

1. Access the Worldviews survey from the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations at www.worldviews.org/detailreports/usreport/index.htm .

2. Click on Chapter 8. Use the navigator on the left side of the screen to go to the section on “Where the Public and Leaders Agree” and then to go to “Gaps between Leaders and the Public.” Select one issue where the public and leaders (elites) agree and one issue where the public and elites disagree.

3. What is the issue type for each foreign-policy issue you selected (military, economic, and so forth)? What type of news coverage do you believe the issue received? What influence, if any, did September 11 have on each of these issues and whether the public and leaders agree or disagree?

4. What is the trend or pattern in public opinion on the two issues you selected? Does it change from the two-year sampling periods conducted by the Council? Why does it stay the same or change?