Walter Liptmann Public Opinion Analysis

In Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann explained the difficulties of public opinion in a democratic society. The power of public opinion became greater than that of the legislative branch of government. The reporting and the protection of public opinion sources became the basic problem of democracy. Instead of the Omni competent citizen making reasoned judgments on public issues, people created their public opinion based on “the pictures inside their heads of human beings, the pictures of themselves, of others, of their needs, purposes and relationships” (page 20). These pictures led to individuals creating stereotypes that identified with their own interests and misled men in their dealings with the world. Great men, according to Lippmann, “exist to the public through a fictitious personality” (page 5). The world

The monopolizing of cost and available supply, the income of an individual and the social elite presented distinct limits upon the circulation of ideas. Other limitations, such as time, the poverty of language and the unconscious constellations of feeling, limited the spread of ideas. Stereotypes, prejudices and self-interests also affected the public opinion of people. Lippmann stated, “facts people see depend on where they are placed, and the habits of their eyes” (page 54). People learn about the world before they see it. They imagine most things before they experience them. People accept stereotypes to decrease their effort of thought to defend their positions and self-respect in society. The stereotype preserves people from the effect of trying to see the world steadily and see it whole. Public opinion, Lippmann said, “is primarily a moralized and codified version of the facts” that varies from one person to the next” (page