Is American news media too dependent upon polls? Is it appropriate for news agencies to create polls and then report on them? Why or why not?
I think the American news media may be a little too dependent on polls. While polls are a great way to let the public know how current situations stand, I think the focus should be less on poll results and more on simply reporting the news. I would rather watch the news and learn about the economic and social issues that are currently pressing, not hear about how the president or other public figure is up or down in the polls. If we don't know anything about our present problems and how they're being handled we can't make very educated votes anyway. On the other hand, I feel that it's okay for news agencies to create and report on their own polls because it's a good way to get people involved and let their opinions be known; polls just shouldn't be the main focus.
2. How important is political party identification to you (e.g. as a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, etc.)? Was it more or less important to your parents & grandparents? Does it seem more or less important to your friends? Why or why not?
Political party identification is not very important to me at all. I have never really been interested in politics and when someone says they're conservative or liberal the only things that come to mind to me are balding men in bad suits and hipster teenagers, respectively. I realize that's silly, but I'd rather just hear what someones view is without giving it a political label. Party identification seems more important to my parents, because it seems to set the climate of the conversation whenever the news is brought up. If they are speaking with another conservative, they become president bashing comrades. If they're are speaking to a liberal, the conversation becomes very stilted and awkward as my parents are not the arguing type. As for my friends, I have no idea what any of their political views are. It just never comes up. What that says about the lot of us, I'm not sure.
3. Do you feel that your opinion of politics is more influenced by economic issues or by social issues? Why?
What little opinion I have about politics is mostly fueled by social issues. I'm ten times more likely to take up arms for my gay friends than to join the current protests about "evil" corporations and the economy. I work retail so I hear complaints about the economy daily, but I tend to ignore it. No one is saying anything other than the same tired old things they've been saying since 2008. I'm much more interested in the fact that my conservative minded workplace is trying to make my coworker take out his earrings. I suppose I'm more passionate about people than finances. People are more exciting to watch and learn about than the economy yo-yo.
Political battles tend to repeat themselves so many times that it sometimes seems useless to pick sides. I think topics of passionate debate are never fixed because party candidates need them as viewpoints on the issues to run on for elections. That's why it seems more logical to be passionate about people and not finances. People don't get boring. Thanks for bringing that up.
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