Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Voter behaviour
theresultingcollectivedecisionisactuallylikelytobebetterthananindividual
decision.
This chapter will explore the political science research on voter behaviour to
better understand how representative democracy functions.
What is public opinion?
Public opinion is a concept frequently used by political leaders, journalists and
political scientists to describe and understand politics. It can be viewed as the
aggregation of the attitudes and preferences of individuals who comprise the public.
This term – ‘the public’ – is widely used, but in political science it has a particular
meaning. Sociologist Herbert Blumer suggested three criteria. In his framework,
the public consists of a group of people who:
• faceacommonissue
• are divided on how to address it
• areengagedindiscussionordebateabouttheissue. 1
In this view, publics emerge over particular issues, such as immigration or the rate
of taxation. To become a member of a public, an individual must join a discourse
on an issue, thinking and reasoning with others. According to Blumer, if a public is
not critically engaged with an issue, then that public ‘dissolves’, and uncritical and
unengaged public opinion becomes mere ‘public sentiment’.
However, this is not a universally accepted definition. More recently, philosopher
and sociologist Jürgen Habermas argued that public opinion is context
dependent, anchored to the ‘public sphere’ – the political and social domain in
which people operate, which changes over time. 2 It comprises public discussions
about politics outside the formal arena of government, such as conversations in a
cafe or bar, talkback radio or what is covered in the editorial pages of a newspaper.
Changes in the public sphere include who is permitted to participate and the
issues and positions that are considered to be socially acceptable. In the past,
women, those who didn’t own property and some ethnic and racial groups were
not permitted to engage in Australian politicaldebateorvoteinelections.Because
it consisted only of the opinions of certain groups of men, the public sphere in
mid-19th-century Australia, for instance, did not consider it socially acceptable to
discuss issues such as LGBTIQ+ rights.
1 Blumer 1946.
2 Habermas 1989.
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