In Zaller's The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, which is NOT a proposed premise about citizens and public opinion as they relate to politics?

a. Individuals differ substantially in their attention to politics

b. People react critically to political communication only when they know about politics

c. People rarely have fixed attitudes on specific issues

d. The majority of Americans actively disdain politics and don't follow the news

 

Answer:

D. The majority of Americans actively disdain politics and don't follow the news.

 Zaller's model is constructed from four basic premises:

1. Individuals differ substantially in their attention to politics and therefore their exposure to elite sources of political information.
2. People react critically to political communication only to the extent that they are knowledgeable about political affairs.
3. People rarely have fixed attitudes on specific issues; rather they construct preference statements on the fly as they confront each issue raised.
4. In constructing these statements, people make the greatest use of ideas that are the most immediately salient to them. Usually these are the ideas that have recently been called to mind or thought about since it takes less time to retrieve these or related considerations from memory and bring them to the top of the head for use. (https://adambrown.info/p/notes/zaller_the_nature_and_origins_of_mass_opinion)