Chapter 5. Public Opinion

	Middle America: phrase coined by Joseph Kraft, referring to Americans who have moved out of poverty 
		but are not yet affluent and who cherish the middle-class values
	Silent majority: consists of people that uphold traditional values, especially against the counter culture
	Social status: measure of one's social standings
	Religious tradition: moral teachings of religious institutions on religious issues
	Gender gap: differences in political views between men and women
	Poll: survey of public opinion
	Random sample: any given person has an equal chance of being polled
	Sampling error: difference in the results of two surveys
	Liberal: want govt. to reduce economic inequality, regulate business, tax the rich heavily, more likely 
		to be young, college-educated, and either Jewish or nonreligious
	Conservative: want govt. to cut back on welfare state, allow market to allocate goods and services, more 
		likely to be older, have higher incomes, white, and like in Midwest
	Political ideology: coherent and consistent set of beliefs about who ought to rule
	Libertarians: conservative on economic matters and liberal on social, want a small weak govt., more likely 
		to be young, college-educated, higher incomes and no religion
	Populists: liberal in economic matters, conservative on social, want a govt. that will reduce economic 
		inequality and control business, typically older, not very educated, low income, religious
	Political elite: people that have s disproportionate amount of some valued resource-money, schooling, 
		prestige, political power
	Norm: standard of right or proper conduct