num_pages: 382
description: In this book John Zaller develops a comprehensive theory to explain how people acquire political information from the mass media and convert it into political preferences. Using numerous specific examples, Zaller applies this theory in order to explain the dynamics of public opinion on a broad range of subjects, including both domestic and foreign policy, trust in government, racial equality, and presidential approval, as well as voting behavior in U.S. House, Senate and Presidential elections. Particularly perplexing characteristics of public opinion are also examined, such as the high degree of random fluctuations in political attitudes observed in opinion surveys and the changes in attitudes due to minor changes in the wording of survey questions.
language: English
title: The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion
titlecomplete: The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology)
genres: Social Science, Grad School, Politics, Academic, Political Science, Psychology, Nonfiction, Sociology, Textbooks, History
ratings_count: 213
series: Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology
publisher: Cambridge University Press