Political Science

Public opinion polls are used as a democratic means to make society and government aware of the opinions of the citizens about the current issues. Mostly, ensures the public about their rights as part of the society.

One public poll used for this study is entitled Majority Continues to Support Civil Unions Most Still Oppose Same-Sex Marriage. From the given data at the pollarticle, the public shares the same sentiments with the proponents of same-sex marriage with 57 favour civil unions, but 53 still oppose same-sex marriage. The first table depicts a line graph showing those opposed and favored of same-sex marriage, among gays and lesbians. It showed that experiments were conducted repeatedly on different years. As time goes by, thoughts of people are being liberated resulted to their acceptance of same-sex marriage.

In reality, the same-sex marriage is a hot-button issue in United States and citizens support for civil rights for gays and lesbians has not changed in this country over time. Public opinion polls stimulates a political dialogue about issues brought up by a group of people, to make a democratic government aware of their advocacy helping, stimulating, and encouraging the development of public opinion.

Public Opinion in Theory
This poll and author seem to support the deliberative democracy, from the name itself, it continues to deliberate with the government and citizens onto the next step or action needed to take. This gives the government a chance to listen to the views of the public through a discussion, further leading to passing of legislation favoring their advocacy. It shows the views of the citizens as a race or ethnicity  Blacks, Hispanics, or Whites.

Opinion Formation
Over the past few years, not many have changed on the opinions of others whether they support the ideology of the Democrats or the Republicans. This shows that there are few people or citizen who adopts to change in society. The majority of the tools opinions are formed are through its community.  Since United States have a very diverse culture, cultivated from one culture and tradition to the other, their own opinions were being shaped and formed already. If they belong to the female Hispanics or male Blacks, it matters to the formation.

Structuring Opinion
Polls and surveys generate public opinions, which is needed by the government. Thus, the main benefactor of this instrument is the government. It can identify the need, want and perception of a specific group towards any issues brought to the attention of the government. The main function of these studies and experiments are to direct the government towards the wants and needs of the majority. Since they are not able to please everyone, the aim should be on pleasing the majority. It aligns the laws and legislators to a specific and common goal of the public. Hence, it could highly suggest, recommend, and dictate the opinion of others to be the voice of the majority. It is a manifestation of the many internal and external factors that affects the opinion of the person or group whom are the respondents.

Media Effects on Opinion
Because of other internal and external factors, opinion varies widely, affecting point of view and stand on a given situation or issue. The article what is Democracy, listed some factors like religion age sex experience education  that forms ones opinion, so if it goes beyond what they think is the truth then their response is against the view point of the proponents. The external and internal factors could play a big role as well. One external factor is the media.

The poll and analysis have nothing to do with media effects. The article showed that any tools used to form an opinion were not indicated. Each person is entitled to their own opinion. But rather the media was used to inform both the government and the citizens.

Framing questions to get a particular answer is not possible on a survey. You could suggest but not everyone would accept it. Furthermore, Pew Research Center for the People  the Press is an independent group that conducts research not to support any particular view or opinion. And so, the analysis of the poll is subject to the gathered information or results of the researcher and not his own biased opinion.

For this particular poll, there no traces of media that affected significantly the result. But the research group has claimed to publish it for information and educating purposes alone. At the bottom part of the article, they have included the word press-a form of media or medium that aims to educate the public.

Democratic Knowledge
The voting public generally allows civil union, taking into consideration all internal and external factors that may have formed and structured their opinion along the way. Hence, it supports the former topics taken in class for the reason that it allows the public to express themselves and become more active.

Generally, government is present to serve the citizens and protect them from one another thus, becomes an institution in itself that requires players to act accordingly. Whether you are the lawmaker, citizen or government, ensuring that the rights of everyone is important. Democratic dilemma is what changes the structure in society in which it allows the citizens to get more involved. It is also a venue for others to intermediate between the action plan of the government and needs of the people. The result or analysis of the poll has nothing to do with the Democratic Dilemma, what matters is that it has become an agent of change for the group of homosexuals to influence the lawmakers since 57 of Americans favors civil unions, but 53 still opposes it. Whatever lawmakers would do and produce, it will become legitimate as it reflects the public views of the people about issues in society. Hence, political legitimacy requires a process or procedure that would uphold what is legally and constitutionally acceptable for a group of people.

Civil Rights and Liberties
Public polls are to uphold what is morally upright for those being discriminated because of race, ethnicity, physical inabilities, age, religion, and sexual orientation. A 57 favoring civil unions or same-sex marriage is an indication how Americans view the homosexuals within their society. Moreover, consider also the 53 who opposes the idea. It could be a 4 difference but the stake is high displeasing many citizens. It personally changed the thought of upholding homosexual rights, or any other rights because change is inevitable therefore, adapt change. Analysis of the given public poll, one should consider many factors, this is for future use since every individual has a right.
The public poll aims to educate and inform the public about new information and advancement of the proponents to their fields. The poll was able to capture the whole picture of situation within United States and has done an excellent job explaining and analyzing the interpretation for its readers.

Public Opinion, Government and Policy
Democracy is the most common type of government these days where the public or the citizens have freedom but not to the extent of harming others. According to the article, what is Democracy this is the type of government in which people or the citizens actively participate to the activities of the state.

The result of the poll should be as is because it is considered as the pulse of the public and should be respected. This has impacted on the advocacy of civil union or same-sex marriage proponents to pursue and achieve further. United States is a democratic country and upholds what is morally and legally upright for its citizens therefore, they earn respect from other groups of people, in government, society or religion for that matter.

About Polling
In public polls there are many factors to be considered that affects the stand point or view point of the respondents. It is for the reason that people are holding on to their beliefs, ideology, biases and prejudices. According to F. Wilson, making a statement of generalization would be tantamount to claiming they are the majority of the population keep in mind that the polls and surveys would resound as the voice of the entire population.

For a more meaningful result and analysis, this public poll was conducted through a random sampling method and on a national level and has used the following process

Sampling Most of our national surveys of the general public are conducted by telephone using a random digit sample of listed and unlisted telephone numbers in the continental United States.
Collecting Survey Data Survey researchers employ a variety of techniques in the collection of survey data. In this section, we have chosen the reports and commentaries that best highlight these methods.
Questionnaire Design Questions design is often thought to represent the art of survey research but there is also plenty of science involved.

The respondents were interviewed over the telephone while some through their telephone. The group of researcher was able to have an excellent sampling method. Another was the demographic profile of the respondents gender race ethnicity age group educational background ideology  whether they are a conservative Republican, moderateliberal Republican, independent, liberal Democrat, conservative Democrat Religion and, State region. These profiles when examined could pose a good advantage to the proponents as they teach more who to further plan a dialogue to present their cause more.

The results became more meaningful since it covers majority of the population in United States, in terms of race and ethnicity  like Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites.  Meanwhile, almost all needs improvements. With the sampling method, the group of researchers should consider the inclusion of more race or ethnicity like Asian or European immigrants to their future polls.
The questions asked was good since the group have been in the research, survey and poll industry, the group has come up with a general question but has a specific approach getting enough information from the respondents. The use of several sampling method would generate a more random response and respondents. According to H. Asher public polls should give enlightenment to its readers thus, the poll would be evaluated the same way Pew Research Center for the People  the Press conducted it.

Conclusion
Political dialogues arises due to public polls about issues brought up by a group of people, to make a democratic government aware of their advocacy helping, stimulating, and encouraging the development of public opinion.

Political dialogues could be achieved favoring the side of an advocacy, in this case favoring the proponents of same-sex marriage. The government ensures the well-being of its citizens, creating an advocacy challenges the laws to be favorable for their cause. Through the polls and surveys, it measures the importance of the publics point of view. It is important since it is treated as the voice of the majority, though it does not necessarily reflect the point of view of the majority. Somehow, it allows the government and respective groups to gain knowledge about their views, in effect, dialogues would allow advocacy to become more popular to the public.