Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. It can be influenced by public relations and the political media. Additionally, the mass media utilizes a wide variety of advertising techniques to change the minds of people. A continuously used technique is propaganda. Public opinion is frequently measured using opinion polls that use the statistical method of survey sampling, which can still run the risk of bias. The results of opinion polls have themselves been found to influence public opinion, particularly with regard to political elections, during which time the tide of public opinion becomes increasingly crucial.

DEFINITION
Public opinion refers to the views, beliefs, and attitudes held by the general public on a particular issue or topic.

• According to Lord Bryce:
  “Public opinion is the aggregate of the views men hold regarding matters that affect or interest the community.”

• According to V.O. KEY, American Behavioural political scientist:
  “Those opinions held by private persons which government finds it prudent to heed.”
  (Choose any one definition)

Measurement of Public Opinion
There are different ways of measuring public opinion that can measure it correctly. Following are some ways to measure public opinion:

• Method of Opinion Polls

• Questionnaires of Magazines and Newspapers

• Interviews for Magazines and Newspapers

• Telephonic Survey

• Newspaper Forum

• Electronic Media

MAIN FEATURES OF PUBLIC OPINION

• a) Public opinion is concerned with a matter of public importance. It is not concerned with the interests of a particular group of people.

• b) Public opinion is for social welfare. The welfare of society is an essential characteristic of public opinion.

• c) Public opinion is arrived at after careful thought. It is the tentative deliberative adjustment of the public to a situation. It is the logical view of things. Kimball Young is of the view that an opinion may be rational or based upon some conviction or it may proceed from feeling and emotion.

• d) It is the product of the interaction of human minds.

• e) Public opinion is related to a particular age or time; it is to be evaluated in the context of a particular situation.

• f) Public opinion has a cultural base. The culture of a society influences public opinion.

• g) Numbers are not necessary to constitute public opinion. A majority is not enough, and unanimity is not required, but the opinion must be such that while the minority may not share it, they feel bound by conviction—not by fear—to accept it.

• h) Public opinion may be defined as the opinion of the people held by them on any issue for the welfare of the whole community. It is a collective product. It is an opinion in which the public finds itself for any reason constrained. Public opinion is always moving toward a decision even though it never is unanimous.

SOURCES OF PUBLIC OPINION

• Press:
  The press is a very effective source of public opinion. The press includes newspapers of all sorts, periodicals, magazines, pamphlets, leaflets, and other printed literature. The press is both formulative as well as informative. Newspapers supply news regarding almost all political and social happenings in the world. Different political problems are commented upon in editorials and leading articles. The press throws a flood of light on current issues. Newspapers criticize the policy of the government and point out defects in the administration. This information is useful both for the government and the people. Little wonder the influence of the press is increasing nowadays. With the spreading of literacy among the masses, the press is regarded as the ‘watchdog’ of democracy.
  Although the press renders very useful service to the people, it is not without defects. A large number of newspapers nowadays are run on commercial lines. In order to push the sale of their papers, the proprietors sometimes indulge in yellow journalism and demoralize public opinion. The press must not, therefore, be controlled by unhealthy profiteers and vested or sectional interests.

• Platform:
  The platform is the second source of public opinion. Although extensive propaganda cannot be carried out on the platform, this agency is by no means less important. A speaker, while addressing the audience, can lend a personal touch to the abstract principles of politics. He can make his speech more effective by means of emotions and gestures. Thus, what the press does through the written word, the platform does through the spoken word. The greatest defect from which the platform suffers is demagogy. Sometimes, a speaker is swept off his feet in the heat of the moment and makes an appeal to the impulsive sentiments of the people.

• Broadcasting:
  Broadcasting is the most recent invention and is undoubtedly the biggest agency of propaganda. It is more powerful than the press because different ideas and news can be relayed all over the world without any loss of time. Radio and television play an important part in disseminating information and are a source of information. These institutions must be free from the control of monopolists and other private vested interests.

• Cinema:
  Cinema can also be a source of public opinion. Cinema caters to the artistic and intellectual needs of the people. It also cultivates new ideas and norms in society on political and economic problems.

• Educational Institutions:
  Educational institutions include schools, universities, literary clubs, study circles, libraries, and reading rooms. Educational institutions are also a source of public opinion to a great extent. In view of their impressionable minds, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20 years can very easily be influenced. Educational institutions were used by the dictators in Germany and Italy for the propagation of their creeds. Such institutions should not, however, be used for political aims. Education should be kept free from politics.

• Legislature:
  The legislature in every democratic country is a forum for the expression of political ideas. Debates and discussions are held in the legislature. An account of these debates is published in the newspapers. People read them with great interest and thus they are acquainted with all the aspects of political life, which also plays a role in the source of public opinion.

• Political Parties:
  Political parties are called brokers of ideas. They formulate and organize public opinion. There would be no organized public opinion if there were no political parties. They bring different issues before the people and help to formulate opinion by their propaganda and discussion.

FORMATION OF PUBLIC OPINION
The mass media plays a crucial role in forming and reflecting public opinion: it communicates the world to individuals, and it reproduces modern society’s self-image. Critiques in the early- to mid-twentieth century suggested that the media destroys the individual’s capacity to act autonomously—sometimes being ascribed an influence reminiscent of the telescreens of the dystopian novel by George Orwell, 1984. Later studies, however, suggested a more complex interaction between the media and society, with individuals actively interpreting and evaluating the media and the information it provides.

Advertising and propaganda are two forms of altering opinion through the mass media. Advertising is a more overt method of doing so by promoting the strengths of certain products or ideas. Propaganda is covert in its actions but also serves to subtly influence opinion. Propaganda is traditionally used more for political purposes, while advertising has been used for commercial purposes.

People are not entirely immersed in mass media, however. Local communication still plays a large role in determining public opinion. People are affected by the opinions of those with whom they work, attend religious services, friends, family, and other smaller-scale interpersonal interactions. Other factors of the formation of public opinion include the economy, the state of which has a great effect on people’s happiness; popular culture, which can be dictated by the mass media but can also develop as small social movements; and massive global events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11th, which shifted public opinion drastically.

Paul Lazarsfeld argued that the public forms its opinion in a two-stage process. He thought most people rely on opinion leaders. These opinion leaders are affected by world events and then pass opinions down to less active members of society. Lazarsfeld believed that the mass media was the main source of information for opinion leaders, but his theory may have missed the tremendous impact the mass media has over every citizen, not just a select few. Most people gather all of their information regarding current events from some outlet of the mass media, be it large newspapers, television news, or the internet. The information these people retain is largely colored by the opinions of those presenting it. As a result, many people take on the opinions of their news presenters.

Conclusion
To conclude, the formation of public opinion is considered of great importance in a free society, since there is an implicit assumption that the actions of the public will be guided by their opinion. Those in positions of authority invest considerable resources in efforts to sway public opinion in their favor, with results that may or may not prove beneficial to society as a whole.