Public opinion is one of those strange concepts that are difficult to define, but we all understand what it means – or at least we believe we do. What the people think is the very foundation of democracy, but it is also important in the most authoritarian dictatorships.
Public opinion is one of those strange concepts that are difficult to define, but we all understand what it means – or at least we believe we do. What the people think is the very foundation of democracy, but it is also important in the most authoritarian dictatorships.
For example, "Our Dear Leader" in North Korea wears elevators in his shoes because he wants people to think he is taller than he actually is. He is concerned about public opinion, even though he doesn’t want anyone to have an opinion other than his own. In a democracy such as ours, public opinion is even more important because it ultimately determines the outcome of elections.
In elections, public opinion translates into votes, jobs, money and power. It does not always drive policies, but it does determine who will make those policies. An interesting illustration of this apparent anomaly is the widespread popular support in South Africa for the death penalty.
It is widely believed that if a referendum on capital punishment were held, more than 70 percent of the population would vote for it, yet the ANC, with almost 70 percent of the votes in the last elections, refuses to even consider the possibility.
Every Friday we publish "Your Say" – a full page dedicated to ascertaining the opinions of ordinary people on the streets of Grahamstown. This popular section elicits a wide range of opinions that people are keen to read.
As human beings, we are always curious to find out what other people think. Should we hate them because they have a different opinion, or should we love them because they share our concerns? The "Your Say" section is only a miniscule sampling of viewpoints and we would never claim that it reflects what the broader population of Grahamstown thinks, but it certainly provides an interesting teaser.
Popular opinion has been invoked by both sides of the name-change debate, the bus terminus controversy, the wind farm proposal and on various issues linked to the aesthetics committee. It is a good argument in any of these disputes to show that you have popular support behind you, but it is often difficult to assess the depth of such support without holding an election or a referendum.
News organisations will often panic if they get 10 letters arguing a similar point. After receiving the letters, you might hear someone saying that they’ve got a whole lot of complaints about our coverage of the strike.
Ten letters might seem a lot when they are in your face, but 10 is really a small number compared to the total readership. We need to take such expressions of public opinion into account, but it is always important to keep perspective.
