Public Opinion and American Democracy
MIT OpenCourseWare offers the readings, lecture outlines, and assignments from this undergraduate political science course on how public opinion is formed and how it functions in American democracy. The material covers the psychological and social forces that shape citizens' political thinking, along with the mechanics of polling and survey research, before turning to how opinion data are actually used in campaigns, elections, and policymaking. Topics include partisanship, ideology, media effects, and the gap between what politicians assume the public wants and what surveys actually show. Course materials include a syllabus, session-by-session reading lists drawn from political science literature, and written assignments testing students' ability to interpret polling data critically. There is no instructor video component and no certificate, consistent with MIT OCW's self-study format; all materials are free to access and download.