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This course focuses on three core questions. First, can people control political leaders through public opinion and elections? Second, to what degree can opinion surveys serve leaders as reliable guides to public preferences on public policy alternatives? Third, to what degree can leaders influence, manipulate, or inform ordinary citizens through political campaigning and mass communications? Specific topics include the social psychology of attitudes, ideologies, and prejudice; rationality and voting; policy making for electoral purposes; media advertising and campaign techniques; and political generations and the dynamics of attitude change. Special attention will be given to computer-based analyses of contemporary U.S. elections using SPSS, with a special focus on the 2000 presidential election.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS GOVT Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
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