El carácter conservador de la opinión pública (The Conservative Nature of Public Opinion)

One of the characteristics of modern democracy is the participation of the public in the control over government representatives. Electoral processes have been the classic procedure for this exercise, and in the last few years, the election of surveys has reinforced that intention. The use of surveys, as indicated by public opinion, although it has been pointing out one of the most powerful political instruments at present, on the other hand, as it is stated in the material that we present, is in its applied methods -like many other aspects of the debate around an extensive democracy-, before the problem of the legitimacy that they can have. In the present article, the reader will find out how and from the same methodological designs of the enquestas, a predominance of the representativeness of the higher income groups, with more extensive information and education, that directly affect the image that public opinion projects. The analysis presented here, part of a North American context, however, we think that in many of its profiles refers to a more general situation of the considerations that should be taken in that long remake of the concept of democracy.