{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20323"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20323","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The politics of public opinion: Polls, pollsters and presidents","abstract":"ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","abstract_html":"ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mattes, Robert Britt"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Political Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kolodziej, Edward A."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T12:35:58Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T12:35:58Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:15Z","subjects":["Political Science, General","Political Science, International Law and Relations"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1992 Mattes, Robert Britt"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9236535","(UMI)AAI9236535"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI9236535","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9236535","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20323","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kolodziej, Edward A."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mattes, Robert Britt"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T12:35:58Z","10000-01-01","1992"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Political Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Political Science, General","Political Science, International Law and Relations"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1992 Mattes, Robert Britt"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9236535","(UMI)AAI9236535","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20323"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only","This study examines the impact of public opinion polling in contemporary American politics. I examine several foreign policy-cases from the Carter and Reagan administrations, asking three questions across these cases. First, how did syndicated, media and White House pollsters ask survey questions about these issues? Second, how were the results to these questions disseminated and interpreted by the news media as well as by government opinion analysts? And third, how was this data actually used by policy-makers?","This study finds that the way the pollsters asked their questions had a significant impact on the results they obtained. One could usually arrive at very different conclusions about the state of public opinion on what were apparently the same political issues. Yet these differences were usually not reflected by the news media. To be sure, there were often significant disagreements among the news media, or between the news media and government analysts as to what these data meant. However, the news media often reached consenses on what these data meant that cannot be supported by a retrospective examination of all available data.","These problems with measuring and interpreting opinion had important effects on political behavior. This is because poll data were widely used within the halls of government. They were used by the White House to support its allies, persuade uncommitted politicians, and delegitimate political opponents. Polling data were also a valuable political resource in intra-Administration arguments over tactics and strategy. And finally, such data were a crucial source of strategic intelligence in Administration public relations designed to shape popular opinion; poll results helped the White House choose appropriate themes, arguments and rhetoric.","More importantly, the news medias' interpretations of opinion affected politicians' images of what the public wanted or opposed. That is, the polls and the news media shaped perceptions of what was politically possible, or politically risky. In this way, polling has come to play an active role in politics by shaping the context of political judgment. Thus, pollsters and those who interpret survey data now shape political reality as much as they reflect it.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:35:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9236535.pdf: 21289600 bytes, checksum: 65bbb491d6262abffbfb355ef0ef910b (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:43:07Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:18:50-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The politics of public opinion: Polls, pollsters and presidents"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kolodziej, Edward A."],"dc:creator":["Mattes, Robert Britt"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T12:35:58Z","10000-01-01","1992"],"dc:description":["ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only","This study examines the impact of public opinion polling in contemporary American politics. I examine several foreign policy-cases from the Carter and Reagan administrations, asking three questions across these cases. First, how did syndicated, media and White House pollsters ask survey questions about these issues? Second, how were the results to these questions disseminated and interpreted by the news media as well as by government opinion analysts? And third, how was this data actually used by policy-makers?","This study finds that the way the pollsters asked their questions had a significant impact on the results they obtained. One could usually arrive at very different conclusions about the state of public opinion on what were apparently the same political issues. Yet these differences were usually not reflected by the news media. To be sure, there were often significant disagreements among the news media, or between the news media and government analysts as to what these data meant. However, the news media often reached consenses on what these data meant that cannot be supported by a retrospective examination of all available data.","These problems with measuring and interpreting opinion had important effects on political behavior. This is because poll data were widely used within the halls of government. They were used by the White House to support its allies, persuade uncommitted politicians, and delegitimate political opponents. Polling data were also a valuable political resource in intra-Administration arguments over tactics and strategy. And finally, such data were a crucial source of strategic intelligence in Administration public relations designed to shape popular opinion; poll results helped the White House choose appropriate themes, arguments and rhetoric.","More importantly, the news medias' interpretations of opinion affected politicians' images of what the public wanted or opposed. That is, the polls and the news media shaped perceptions of what was politically possible, or politically risky. In this way, polling has come to play an active role in politics by shaping the context of political judgment. Thus, pollsters and those who interpret survey data now shape political reality as much as they reflect it.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:35:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9236535.pdf: 21289600 bytes, checksum: 65bbb491d6262abffbfb355ef0ef910b (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:43:07Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:18:50-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission"],"dc:identifier":["AAI9236535","(UMI)AAI9236535","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/20323"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1992 Mattes, Robert Britt"],"dc:subject":["Political Science, General","Political Science, International Law and Relations"],"dc:title":["The politics of public opinion: Polls, pollsters and presidents"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Political Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:15Z"}