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I have always found it odd why people address public opinion as public opinion, especially when they are addressing issues that simply do not affect the majority of the population and do not feel obligated to share their opinion, as the outcome most likely will not serve them any disadvantages nor advantage. I found it rather interesting in Essentials of Public relations, how the author explains Public Opinion. He firstly states that very few people actually take part in public opinion, and that there are two major reasons on why the public opinion size is so small and why they take the opinion for the majority. With his first reason, he opens by saying psychologists found that most of the public are tentative when addressing most issues and that by having a passive public it opens the gates for the small groups or parties that are opposing or supporting the issue. I interpreted this as by having such a quiet majority these groups are coming across much louder and because the subject matter is affecting them the most they have the most say. His second reason is engagement with the subject at hand. He uses the example of parents forming public opinion when on the need for secondary education, while senior citizens constitute the bulk of opinion on the need for increased social security benefits”. I interpreted his second reason as him saying that if the matter at hand it close to someone based on their lives they will be more aware of having there say. Also, my matter was cleared up for me when he said that the people unaffected with the issue do not contribute to public opinion on the subject.

Wilcox, Dennis L., 2001. Essentials of Public Relations. 1st ed. New York: Longman.