POLS 020. Public Opinion and American Democracy

How do individuals form political opinions? How do those opinions affect American democracy? This course examines political attitude formation and the aggregation of these attitudes to form what we call "public opinion." The course covers individual level attitude formation, sampling and survey methodology, macro-level opinion and topics related to macro-level opinion including democratic values and policy representation. Students will become familiar with democratic theory and the role that the public plays in democratic theory. Readings will cover cutting-edge social science research as well as the classics of public opinion and political behavior. Using social scientific research methods, students will research public opinion on a particular issue over time.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Political Science
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science

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