Course Goals

Students should leave the course with a clear understanding of what they believe to be true about politics and where these beliefs come from. They should recognize what the public-at-large believes about politics, and how their individual beliefs compare with the public’s, or to put it another way, where they fall in the distribution of opinions about politics and government. Students should also come away with an understanding of where the public fits in American democracy, in particular what influence it has on government policies and actions, and whether this level of influence is too little, too much, or just right. Students should also gain an appreciation, both the strengths and weaknesses, of the principal methods of measuring public opinion, namely polls/surveys and focus groups. Still another goal is to elevate the skills of students in communicating their ideas through written and spoken language.

Part of the rationale underlying the above goals is my belief that education should contribute to self-awareness, for students to recognize who and what they are and why, and how and where they fit into the "big picture." In the realm of politics, this falls to political science, and within the curriculum of political science, this falls to courses that focus on the individual citizen. Few course in political science do; Polls, Politics and Public Opinion is one that does. It is also important for students to recognize, particularly in Nebraska which lacks diversity, that they are part of a larger and an extraordinarily diverse community, where differences of opinion exist, and often are resolved, sometimes the way they prefer but not always.

As noted above, few courses in political science focus specifically on the individual. In this respect, Polls, Politics, and Public Opinion stands somewhat apart from the curriculum in political science. It does, however, fit nicely with a new emphasis in the Department on civic education. Among the goals that are a part of this are assisting students in appreciating how a diverse citizenry can feel a part of the political and social order, understanding and valuing democratic processes and institutions, and accepting decisions arrived at through them. Polls, Politics and Public Opinion touches on these concerns. To be sure, the role of the individual is implicit in many other courses, particularly those where the individual citizen is presumed to have a role in shaping or influencing an institution, such as the Congress or the presidency in American politics, or where the individual is the intended target of institutional outputs, such as courses in public policy. In these courses, however, the link to the individual citizen is often obscure. In Polls, Politics and Public Opinion the individual is central.