A recent Gallup Poll finds that more Americans are paying attention to the news these days. Are you? The poll shows that Republicans are also more likely to pay closer attention to the news than Democrats these days. Any idea why this may be?

Check out the full poll results here

On Wednesday night Congressman John Carter will give a live web address to constituents of his district (that’s you)!

Submit him a question and join him online for some extra credit! On Thursday morning, submit to me your question, a summary of the webcast, and if the Congressman responded to your question, what was that response.

Please join us on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. Central Time for a live online Webcast. A link to the Web cast will be provided at www.house.gov/carter. The focus of the Webcast will be health care legislation, but feel free to send in other questions. To send Judge Carter a question, e-mail judgecarter@gmail.com.

Should we expand the House of Representatives? Is the system that we have under the current constitution fair? Why should a citizen in Montana have so much more weight in the House and Senate than a citizen of Texas? Once again, we see the battle between America the democracy and America the republic. What’s the solution?

Expand the House?

A little political humor for you this weekend.

Keep in mind, that SNL typically has a little bit of a liberal bias (to say the least), but their political humor is usually pretty funny. Enjoy!

A chance for extra credit!

Now that you have taken the survey in class and determined where you are on the political spectrum, you can see if your results will be consistent. For your extra credit homework, complete any two political surveys, and record your results by writing them down or printing them out. Then, ask one of your family members to take at least one of the ideology surveys, and record their results.

Answer the following questions:

1. Do the results of the three surveys you took correlate (match) with each other? How are they different? How can you explain the differences?
2. How do your results correlate with your family’s results? Does this surprise you?
3. Now that you have read about the factors that influence public opinion and voter behavior in the Edwards text, do those factors apply to you? What does and what doesn’t?

Due Date:
September 24th

Political Ideology Surveys

As you know, not all political surveys are created equal: they are of varying quality and reliability, and some of them have an agenda to steer respondents one way or another. Some are not written clearly, and some are… well… just plain silly. Be aware of all this as you complete your homework!

• Mrs. Trullinger’s Political Ideology Survey: An electronic copy of the survey we took in class that you can print out at home.
• The Pew Research Center: Find out where you fit in on their typology scale.
• The Political Compass: Find out where you belong on the conservative / liberal, and authoritarian / libertarian spectrum
• Idealog: Place yourself on the conservative / liberal spectrum and libertarian / communitarian spectrum.
• Party Matchmaking Quiz: Register what you would do if you were in charge, and see which party you match with. This site is run by supporters of having a third party.
• Glass Booth: This isn’t really an ideology quiz, but one to pick which 2008 candidate you most closely match. What’s neat is you get to pick which issues matter to you, and then it generates questions based just on those issues.
• How Liberal or Conservative are You: The quiz will generate code for you to put on your own website if you have one, but you can still use the results to figure out where you stand.
• Moral Politics Quiz: Find out where you stand on the axes of moral rules and moral order.
• Politopia: Provides a political philosophy quiz and an ideology map, aimed specially for the youth. Sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies.
• Are You a Red or Blue State: Totally unscientific (but fun) quiz from Slate Magazine.

Much thanks to Ken Halla and  Mrs. Lisa Trullinger who I completely ripped this awesome assignment from.