What is Public Opinion? Public opinion is difficult to
It refers to the attitudes
shared by a large number of people on matters of and

Public opinion, an aggregate of the individual views, attitudes, and beliefs about a particular topic, expressed by a significant proportion of a community. They say some scholars treat the aggregate as a synthesis of the views of all or a certain segment of society; others regard it as a collection of many differing or opposing views. 

Explanation:

I believe a part of my explanation is the words make it almost self-explanatory. The word public is referring to the people in the community .The word opinion in this cas wasn't so self-explanatory. There are too many different reasons why people have opposing views on community.

lincoln presided over the union victory in the american civil war, which dominated his presidency. a former whig, lincoln ran on a political platform opposed to the expansion of slavery in the territories. his election served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the american civil war.