Shaping Public Opinion: Crash Course U.S.

Government #34
Available at https://youtu.be/NflULVECAFQ or just youtube/google “Crash Course US Government 34”
1. Three of the main influences on our political opinions
are the government, private groups (aka interest groups), and the
and the media.

a. The government actively shapes public opinion

by engaging in public relations
maneuvers and manipulating the new cycles.

i.
The President is especially good at controlling the news cycle since he can
go on television whenever he wants.

1. How was this trend started? Explain.

It really picked up steam with Franklin Roosevelt, who began the
trend of presidents speaking directly to the American people with his
“fireside chats.” There were direct appeals to Americans to support
the president’s policies, and the classic example of presidential P.R.

ii. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War and then the Watergate Scandal
put a massive dent in the people’s trust of the government.

b. Public opinion is highly reactive to current events, especially the economy.

c. Describe the “Harry and Louise” ad campaign sponsored by Health Insurance

Association of America.
Over the course of a year in 1993 and 1994 the group
sponsored 14 television ads featuring a fictitious couple,
Harry and Louise, who fretted over the potentially
calamitous consequences of President Clinton’s health
care proposals. The ads cost between 14 and 20 million
dollars, and are widely credited with helping move
public opinion against the Clinton healthy policy.

d. The main way that the media shapes public

opinion is by choosing what stories
to cover and not cover.

i. What is referred to by the phrase

“priming”?
This is when the media prepare the public to take a particular view of an
issue, often through the amounts of coverage it gives.
ii. What is “framing”?
Which is the way the media outlets choose to interpret an event for us.