DALLAS AND WARSAW: THE IMPACT OF A MAJOR NATIONAL POLITICAL EVENT ON PUBLIC OPINION ABROAD

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 33, Heft 2, S. 190-196

Abstract

A report from 2 surveys carried out in Warsaw in 1963, just before & after the President J. F. Kennedy's assassination, presents the impact of this event on opinions about internat'l problems of Warsaw inhabitants. Interest in internat'l poi increased, but the set of internat'l problems which involved the public remained unchanged. There was no diff in evaluation of current threats to peace, no change in the estimated likelihood of avoiding a world war during the next 20 yrs. Some changes did occur in the appraisal of the role of PO in internat'l pol (increasing conviction about an impact of general public), in appraising the seriousness of such problems as famine & diseases (less concern about these questions), & in evaluations of the role of some statesmen (a strong increase of the appraisal of President Kennedy's contribution to world peace occurred after his death from 42.5 to 83.3% of the sample (N= 497 & 300). It is hyp'ed that (1) some unexpected, shocking pol'al events, which happen even in a distant country with a diff pol'al system, induce people to think over, discuss & reevaluate the whole set of phenomena related to such events, (2) as a result, those opinions with which an individual is not strongly involved, or which are not esp familiar to him, may undergo considerable change. AA.