Data Analytics and Computation 695P - S- Public Opinion in Politics

What is public opinion? How do we measure it? Where does it come from? Does it?and should it?matter for policies and political outcomes? Whose opinions count? These are fundamental questions for understanding the role of citizens in American democracy, and democracy in general. In this course, we learn about how members of the public think about issues, and why they think the way they do. We will also examine whether or not political leaders follow the "the will of the public" or manipulate public opinion to achieve their own aims. In addition, topics from the polls and from the news will be discussed in class regularly. There will be many opportunities to discuss the election, to better understand and interpret election polls, and explore the deeper reasons why Americans vote the way they do. This course is offered as part of the new graduate program in Data Analytics and Computational Social Science, and would count towards the substantive course distribution requirement of the master's degree.

An additional discussion group will also be added for graduate students. Open to DACSS students only. Contact dacss@umass.edu if interested in registering for this course.