Public opinion is a state of mind where a certain idea that people as a whole, as a group, think together is expressed. This statement is what I set out to prove or disprove by participating in gathering information for this survey. My conclusion however is not what I expected and I believe there isn't any simple way of explaining public opinion because the public bases its opinions on misrepresented information. As people are influenced by other people their opinion may be slightly altered however most people have a good moral understanding of their own beliefs and tend to base their opinions on those beliefs. I believe there are three things that make up a persons opinion, the first of those is political apathy, the second is personal motivation, and the third is provisional knowledge. I believe that the average middle-class American is very ostentatious towards issues that affect them everyday. .
People in big groups, because of a desire to fit in, will usually tend to pretend they know what is going on even if they don't. It's been said that in a group of ten people having a conversation, two people are actually knowledgeable in that conversation. When it comes to political information most people won't take the time to research and investigate the topics that will ultimately be affecting them. An average middle-class individuals" idea's about politics and political issues usually does not extend any farther than CNN Headline News. The television has revolutionized the way people receive information since the 60's but it has also, unfortunately, made people lazy to the point where they believe everything they hear. An example of this, one of the phone conversations I had, the person on the other end told me that war is unnecessary because Sadam hasn't done anything wrong. When I ask how he knew this information he said he hear it on the news, I asked him if perhaps the news was wrong and he responded, "If it wasn't true, why would they say it.
