Intensity and salience
Chapter 36 of the CLEP American Government study guide on Effortless Math covers Intensity and salience: the key terms, the core ideas, and worked examples showing how this topic is tested on the exam.
CLEP American Government, Chapter 36
Intensity and salience
Direction tells us which side a person favors. Intensity tells us how strongly that preference is held. Salience tells us how much the issue matters relative to other concerns. These dimensions can move independently.
Strong preferences can motivate effort, but an issue is most likely to guide voting or participation when it also receives priority. Organization makes intense and salient preferences visible through meetings, messages, donations, and sustained monitoring.
Measure direction, strength, personal importance, vote priority, and behavior separately. A majority in a favor-or-oppose poll reveals none of the other distributions, and the people who contact officials may not resemble everyone who holds a view.
Imagine that most commuters mildly favor converting a traffic lane to bus use, while a smaller group of nearby merchants strongly opposes the plan. The merchants attend hearings because they believe the change threatens their livelihoods. Many commuters prefer the bus lane but rank housing costs and school funding above transportation. The hearing room will exaggerate the opposition's share of the population even though it accurately displays that group's intensity and organization.
Video lesson: Public Opinion: Crash Course Government and Politics #33
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