Utilizing both a critical thinking approach and a comparative perspective throughout the text, Sobel and Shiraev provide comprehensive coverage of public opinion while also teaching students the basic skills necessary for measurement, understanding, and interpretation. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, this text provides a unique and practical introduction to the field of public opinion. The book begins by "schooling" the reader in how to think critically and then helps students apply those techniques as they encounter the concepts of public opinion. The text also employs a comparative perspective, demonstrating the effect and nature of public opinion in other countries while also placing American public opinion in context.

New to the Second Edition

• A focus on the debate about accuracy of polls and reliability of sampling in the "smartphone" era. This will include discussing issues of Internet surveys and problems and solutions to cell phone polling.
• More comparative examples of surveys from democratic countries.
• New data from the national presidential and congressional elections from 2008 to 2016.
• A new chapter on security and defense issues, including national security, surveillance and privacy in addition to the chapter on foreign policy.
• An increased attention to domestic policy issues, splitting economic issues off from social/moral issues and adding--along with gender, social class, ethnicity and religion--new explorations of the relations of youth, gender ID, and age to opinion.
• Strengthened pedagogy by introducing new review questions, debate boxes, 3-4 new diagrams for every chapter, and a visual review-diagram to conclude every chapter.