Unit 2- Political Ideology and Political Participation

What beliefs influence the creation of public policy?

American political beliefs that are shaped by founding ideals, core values, linkage institutions, and that changing demographics of citizens.

How is governing achieved?

Directly through citizen participation and indirectly through linkage institutions--such as political parties, interest groups, and the mass media--that inform, organize, and mobilize support to influence government and politics, resulting in many avenues for citizen influence on policy making.

Why is data important when identifying and explaining political behavior of individuals and groups?

Correlation, causation, quantitative data, qualitative data

What is an ideology? What are common political ideologies? How does each impact economic and social public policies?

Liberal, conservative, libertarian, socialist

Ideology

A consistent pattern of opinion on particular issues that stems from a core belief or set of beliefs.

Liberals

Those who believe government should do more to solve the nation's problems but reject the notion that government should favor a particular set of social values.

Conservatives

Those who believe government tries to do too many things that should be left to firms and individuals but look to government to uphold traditional values.

Libertarians

Those who believe government tries to do too many things that should be left to firms and individuals and who oppose government as an instrument of traditional values.

Socialism

An economic system in which government owns and controls many of the major industries.

What are the core values of American political culture? ow do they relate to political parties?

Individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, limited government

Individualism

Individual freedom is the foundation of society. *Personal liberty, self-sufficiency, initiative

Equality of Opportunity

Equal vote, equal chance to participate, equal treatment under the law. *Not equality of result

Rule of Law

The law is supreme over all citizens. *"Country of laws, not of men," accountability

Limited Government

Government's power is legally constrained

Free Enterprise

Ability to organize and profit from business with little government interference. *Tied to fair play

What factors impact the development of an individual's political attitudes?

Political socialization, globalization, generation, major events

Political Socialization

The learning process by which people acquire their political opinions, beliefs, and values.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Age-Cohort Tendency

The tendency for a significant break in the pattern of political socialization to occur among younger citizens, usually as the result of a major event or development that disrupts preexisting beliefs.

What are the ideologies of the Democratic and Republican Parties?

-Govt's main purpose according to Repubs=the government's main purpose is to support political, economy, and religious freedom; safety; the military; and bring power back tot he people and states by having a strict interpretation of the Constitution.
-Govt's main purpose according to Dems=The government's main purpose is to promote economic and social equality for all Americans.

What are linkage institutions?

Political parties, interest groups, elections, mass media

Linkage Institutions

Connect people to the government AND the government to the people
-in a democracy, we need to know what government thinks and government needs to know what the people think

Political Party

A coalition of people that exists to compete in elections in the hope of winning executive and legislative offices. American political parties are more election-oriented than ideological.
-Goal: get candidates elected
-Main role in campaigns: raise and spend money

Elections

A formal and organised choice by vote of a person for a political office or other position

Mass Media

Means of communication that are reaching the public, including newspapers and magazines, radio, television (broadcast, cable, and satellite), films, recordings, books, and electronic communication.

What are the functions and impact of political parties on the electorate and government?

Mobilization, education, recruitment, campaign management and support, legislative structure
-Back then, political organizations nominated candidates but now citizens do with primary elections
-Main role of political parties: raise and spend money to get their candidates elected into office

What factors caused political parties and campaigns to change and adapt over time?

-Nomination, party-centered campaigns v. candidate-centered campaigns, demographic coalitions, communication and data-management technology, party national committees (DNC, RNC)
-Elections: critical elections, regional electoral realignments, demographic appeal

Nomination

The designation of a particular individual to run as a political party's candidate (its "nominee") in the general election.

Party-Centered Campaigns

Election campaigns and other political processes in which political parties, not individual candidates, hold most of the initiative and influence.
-Americans do not favor this type of campaign/politics

Candidate-Centered Campaigns

Election campaigns and other political processes in which candidates, not political parties, have most of the initiative and influence.
-Pros: puts new ideas into electoral politics, more open and provides opportunities for newcomers to win offices fast, brings flexibility to electoral politics (they can quickly adjust and bring new ideas unlike parties)
-Cons: often become mud-slinging contests and powerful special-interest groups can easily be made (they give much of the money that endorses candidates; also gives lots of money to incumbents of both parties, so when either party wins they also gain), this type of campaign weakens accountability (candidates can say they had no say over it; party-centered campaigns have collective responsibility so when problems happen, voters blame the party as a whole and vote their members out)
-Also strengthens relationship between voters and representatives but weakens electoral and representative institutions

Party Coalitions

The groups and interests that support a political party.
-Democratic coalition: minorities, blacks, union members, the poor, city dwellers, hispanics, jaws, women, LGBT+ community
-Republican coalition: mainly white middle-class protestants

Communication and Data-management technology

-Air wars (modern campaigns are often a battle of opposing televised advertising campaigns)
-Ground Wars (get swing voters to vote for candidates and get their own supporters to vote for them and increase voter turnout)
-Web Wars (new technology like the internet has made its way into campaigns; may overtake TV ads as principal medium of election politics; E-mail is cheaper and the internet can target medium, but people can just ignore internet ads unlike TV; internet can be used to communicate with strong supporters and raise money while TV can be used to get public recognition and catching attention of less-interested voters)
-Public opinions isn't directly measured, just assessed indirectly
-Elections, messages to newspapers and politicians, and size of mass demonstrations can be used to judge public policy and are useful guides for politicians, but none is a precise indication of what the public thinks (elections=voters vote for people for different reasons; demonstrators and messages to the news are unrepresentative of the general public because they are more extreme than most people)
-Public Opinion Poll: A device for measuring public opinion whereby a relatively small number of individuals (the sample) are interviewed for the purpose of estimating the opinions of a whole community (the population)

Party National Committees (RNC, DNC)

-Structure=nat'l committee and nat'l chairperson
-theory: nat'l parties run by committees; reality: committees do't have great power (they are too big to make decisions)
-Meet periodically
-Power=confined to setting org. policy
-Has no power to pick nominees or dictate candidates' policy positions
-Day-today operations decided by national chairperson (except when the party controls the White House; then the President chooses)
-Chairperson=chooses large group to build party's base and promote presidential and congressional candidates
-Nat'l committees train candidates and their staff, raise money, seek media coverage of party positions and activities, research issues and groups, send representatives to help with state and local parties
-Model of national=created in 1970s by Repubs who decided an expanded and modernized nat'l org could help parties
-DNC created similar org, but not as effective
-Republican nat'l party outspends Democratic nat'l party in every recent election

Critical Elections

An election that leads to a party realignment.

Demographic Appeal

A party's appeal to a certain demographic group (e.g. women, minorities, young people)

How have campaign finance laws caused political parties and campaigns to adapt over time?

Campaign Finance Law: Federal Election Commission, hard money, soft money, "Stand by your ad", PACs, 527s, Super PACs, dark money
Documents: First Amendment, Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, Buckley v. Valeo, Citizens United v. FEC

Federal Election Commission

-Independent regulatory commission
-Enforces laws, sets rules, regulates campaigning (see FEC.gov)

Hard Money

Campaign funds given to candidates to spend as they choose

Soft Money

Campaign contributors that are not subject to legal limits and are given to parties rather than directly to candidates (these contributions are no longer legal)
-Wealthy contributors can only legally give a candidate a limited amount of money, but they can legally give unlimited money to the candidate's party

"Stand by Your Ad" Provision

requires candidates in the United States for federal political office, as well as interest groups and political parties supporting or opposing a candidate, to include in political advertisements on television and radio "a statement by the candidate that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication."

PACs

Definition: A popular term for a political committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates.
Primary Purpose of this type of organization: Raises and spends money to help candidates get elected or not.
Regulated by IRS or FEC: FEC
Can donate directly to candidates (if yes, how much?): Yes (can give $5,000 to a candidate per election)
Can take in unlimited contributions (if no, what is the limit?): No (can receive up to $5,000 per individual, PAC, or committee per year)
Can spend unlimited money?: Yes
Must publicly disclose the name of donors?: Yes
Can engage in express advocacy (magic words?) (if no, what can it do?): Yes
Rank the groups from 1 (faces the most scrutiny/most transparent) to 4 (least scrutiny and transparency): 1
Rank the groups from 1 to 4 by how much they spend #1 being the most: 3 or 4
Pros: hard money, express advocacy, direct contributions to candidates
Cons: No coordination w/ campaigns

527s

Definition: Political organization as defined in their tax filings with the IRS 527 as the section of the tax parties, coalitions, committees, or associations
Primary Purpose of this type of organization: Organized for the purpose of influencing an issue, policy, appointment or election (federal, state, or local)
Regulated by IRS or FEC: IRS
Can donate directly to candidates (if yes, how much?): No
Can take in unlimited contributions (if no, what is the limit?): Yes
Can spend unlimited money?: Yes
Must publicly disclose the name of donors?: Yes (most as regularly as PACs)
Can engage in express advocacy (magic words?) (if no, what can it do?): Can do issue & express advocacy
Rank the groups from 1 (faces the most scrutiny/most transparent) to 4 (least scrutiny and transparency): 3
Rank the groups from 1 to 4 by how much they spend #1 being the most: 2 (looks like they're declining though)
Pros: IRS regulated, unlimited fundraising+expenditures
Cons/Limitations: Independent spending campaigns (cannot coordinate w/ campaigns), no direct contributions to candidates, issue advocacy only (no "magic words")

Super PAC (only cares about who wins//loses, not issues)

Definition: A special kind of committee created due to Citizens United and other court decisions that raises and spends money to support or oppose candidates, but aren't part of the actual campaign.
Primary Purpose of this type of organization: Can raise and spend money to support or oppose candidates, but can't directly give money to candidates or coordinate with them.
Regulated by IRS or FEC: FEC
Can donate directly to candidates (if yes, how much?): No
Can take in unlimited contributions (if no, what is the limit?): Yes
Can spend unlimited money?: Yes
Must publicly disclose the name of donors?: Yes
Can engage in express advocacy (magic words?) (if no, what can it do?):Yes
Rank the groups from 1 (faces the most scrutiny/most transparent) to 4 (least scrutiny and transparency): 2
Rank the groups from 1 to 4 by how much they spend #1 being the most: 1
Pros: Unlimited fundraising + expenditures, express advocacy (yes to "magic words")
Cons: FEC regulated, independent spending campaign, no direct contributions to candidates.

Political Nonprofits (501c4) (dark money)

Definition: A social welfare organization designed to only promote social welfare, but can be politically active as long as it's not its primary purpose.
Primary Purpose of this type of organization: Promote social welfare
Regulated by IRS or FEC: IRS
Can donate directly to candidates (if yes, how much?): No
Can take in unlimited contributions (if no, what is the limit?): Yes
Can spend unlimited money?: No (can spend only 49.999% of their money on campaigns)
Must publicly disclose the name of donors?: No
Can engage in express advocacy (magic words?) (if no, what can it do?): Yes
Rank the groups from 1 (faces the most scrutiny/most transparent) to 4 (least scrutiny and transparency): 4
Rank the groups from 1 to 4 by how much they spend #1 being the most: 4
Pros: IRS regulated, unlimited fundraising expenditures, weak donor disclosure rules, express advocacy (yes to "magic words")
Cons: Social welfare must be primary purpose (50% rule), independent spending campaigns, no contributions

Dark Money

political money where the donors of the money do not have to be disclosed

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

-Directed at limiting outside influence in campaigns>limited special interest $$, including corporations and unions
-Outlawed soft money used by political parties
-Banned corporations from airing political ads within 60 days of a general or 30 days of a primary election
-Banned corporations from contributing directly to a candidate

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Constitutional Issue: 1st Amendment, Free Speech Clause (political speech)
Issue to be decided: Does the government have a compelling interest in when limiting candidate expenditures and donations to candidates under the Federal Election Reform Act?
SCOTUS decision: Specifically references the importance of political group speech (contributions are limited to groups, but expenditures are unlimited)

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Constitutional Issue: 1st Amendment, Free Speech Clause (political speech)
Issue to be decided: Does the government have a compelling interest when preventing corporations and unions from spending money to affect elections?
SCOTUS decision: Unleashes new $$ into campaigns/elections and sparks the creation of SUPER PACs (corporations and unions have first Amendment free speech rights)
-also struck down soft money ban and corporate ad timing bans, declared that corporations are people so therefore they have free speech and can engage in unlimited independent political expenditures, and upheld ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates

What factors help maintain the United States' two-party system?

-Electoral system: single member district plurality v. proportional
-Third (minor) parties, platform, independent candidates

Single Member District Plurality

The form of representation in which only the candidate who gets the most votes in a district wins office
-you don't need a majority, you just need the most votes compared to the other groups
-there is no incentive for third parties since there is no reward for winning second/not having the most votes
-biggest reason why we have 2-party system

Proportional Representation

A form of representation in which seats in the legislature are allocated proportionally according to each political party's hare of the popular vote. This system enables smaller parties to compete successfully for seats
-this is used more in Europe
-gives smaller parties an incentive to organize and compete because as long as they get votes, they will have a say in the government (but depends on how many people vote for them)

Third (minor) parties

electoral contenders other than the two major parties. American third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections.
-only successful minor party=Republican Party
-formed primarily to promote policies that their followers believe aren't being discussed enough about by the 2 big parties
-minor parties are quicker to respond
-when minor parties gain support, major parties respond to the new issues and minor parties lose support (but the minor party has served its purpose as to make major parties more aware of what the public thinks)
-single-issue parties (minor parties that are created because of a single issue that people are interested in)
-factional parties (minor parties that are created because there is internal conflict in either of the major parties and thus a group breaks off of them)
-ideological parties (minor parties that are created because of their commitment to a broad and radical ideology)

Party Platform

the statement of policies of a national political party

Independent Candidates

Candidate that is not affiliated with any political party.

How do political parties use primaries and caucuses? Which is more democratic?

-Types of primaries: open, closed, blanket
-Safe v. swing (competitive) district, open-seat election

Primary

A form of election in which voters choose a party's nominees for public office. In most primaries, eligibility to vote is limited to voters who are registered members of the parties
-run by state governments

Caucus

A meeting of party members to choose a party's candidate for the general election.
-more democratic than parties since people have to stand to vote
-people vote for nominees by standing
-led by political parties

Open Primary

Independents and voters from other parties can vote in a party's primary (but not both parties' primaries simultaneously)
-less states have open primaries than states with closed primaries

Closed Primary

Voting limited to voters registered/declared at poll as members of the party whose primary is being held.
-most states do this

Blanket Primary

Each voter votes one person from either party
-few states have this

Safe district

An electoral district in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. In this district, the current office holder will most likely win reelection.

Swing district

A district where no single candidate or party has overwhelming support (more competitive)
-Candidates focus their resources on competitive states with more electoral votes

Open-seat election

an election in which there is no incumbent in the race

How does the media serve as a linkage institution?

-Types of media: traditional v. new, investigative journalism, horserace journalism, partisan journalism, 24-hour news
-Media bias, media consolidation, confirmation bias, credibility, public opinion polling

Traditional v. New media

Traditional: newspaper, radio, antenna TV
New: social media, Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube, 24-hour news, internet

Investigative Journalism

The use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders

Horserace Journalism

Too much focus on who is winning; not on the issues
-Public Representative
-Criticism

Sensationalism

Too much focus on what will get clicks/views (scandal, murder, etc.)
-Public Representative
-Criticism

Partisan Journalism

Newspapers and other communication media that openly support a political party and whose news in significant part follows the party line.

24-hour news

24-hour investigation and reporting of news, concomitant with fast-paced lifestyles
-CNN started this
-around-the-clock forum of political news and information and public-affairs coverage

Media Bias

Bias or slant in the selection of which news to report and how the news is reported.

Media Consolidation

A process by which fewer and fewer owners control the majority of media outlets

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions.

Credibility

the quality of being trusted and believed in

Public Opinion Poll

A device for measuring public opinion whereby a relatively small number of individuals (the sample) are interviewed for the purpose of estimating the opinions of a whole community (the population).

How does scientific public opinion polling impact elections and influence public policy?

-Types of polls: opinion, benchmark/tracking, entrance and exit
-Techniques: identification of respondents, mass survey, focus group
-Reliability: sampling error, question types, format types
-note: politicians use scientific public opinion polling in order to determine the public's thoughts

(Public) Opinion Poll

They survey the opinions of respondents on any number of topics. They can measure respondents' approval or disapproval of public figures, whether that's politicians or celebrities. They can also measure opinions on issues, such as gun control or a carbon tax.

Benchmark Poll

Polls that are conducted at the beginning of a campaign to establish baseline levels of voters' perceptions, knowledge, and opinions of a candidate.

Tracking Poll

Shorter, smaller polls conducted daily among the same universe voters at key periods in primaries or general elections to rack how their perceptions, attitudes, and opinions about.a candidate change.

Entrance Poll

Voters are asked about which candidate they are going to vote for and why before they walk into the actual caucus.

Exit Poll

Surveys given to voters exiting polling locations on Election Day, to learn how they voted. These polls are only useful in retrospect (to learn from the past). They also help media outlets predict final results before the polls close. This is not to say that this type of poll always accurately forecasts the actual result.

Identification of Respondents

A poll needs to identify the subject or respondent population and specify the criteria for subject or respondent selection

• ex. 1,000 respondents made up of adults who have voted and adults who haven't voted selected through random-digit sampling

Mass Survey

A way to measure public opinion by interviewing a large sample of the population

Focus group

A small group of voters chosen by a political companion for their demographic similarities and are brought together to gauge how the group they represent feels about the candidate

• ex. Town hall q&a by media

Sampling Error

A margin of the accuracy of a public opinion poll. This is mainly a function of sample size and is usually expressed in percentage terms (larger sample=smaller error)
-if a properly drawn poll has a 3% _ and 55% of poll respondents said to vote Republican, then between 52% and 58% of all citizens will vote Republican.

Types of Polls

Job Approval Polls, Tracking Polls (evaluate the message), Push Polls (convince), Entrance+Exit Polls (voter behavior), Aggregate Polls (a poll of polls)

It is important that polls don't have…

any words that may be exaggerated, inaccurate, false, "loaded," etc.

How are voting rights protected by the Constitution and the Law? How has the United States democratized over time?

-Suffrage, disenfranchisement
-Documents: Amendments: 15, 17, 19, 24, 26, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
-Note: big three factors that someone would vote: age, education, income

Suffrage

the right to vote

Disenfranchisement

Condition of being deprived of the right to vote

15th Amendment (1870)

Expanded to all men, 21+

19th Amendment (1920)

Expanded to all adults, 21+

24th Amendment (1964)

Outlawed poll taxes

26th Amendment (1971)

Expanded to include 18-20 year olds

Voting Rights Act of 1965

No discriminatory voting laws

What factors impact voter behavior?

-Models: rational choice, retrospective, prospective, party-line
-Demographics: age, education, race/ethnicity, gender, region, religion
-Other: party identification, ideological orientation, political efficacy, political socialization, contemporary issues
-State voter registration laws, voting procedures, Voter ID laws, presidential v. midterm elections

Rational choice voting

Voting based on what is perceived to be in the citizen's individual interest.
-what candidate most benefits me?

Retrospective Voting

A form of electoral judgement in which voters support the incumbent candidate or party when its policies are judged to have succeeded and oppose the incumbent party or candidate when its policies are judged to have failed.
-What HAVE you done for me?
-"Backward Looking"
-Performance-based

Prospective Voting

A form of electoral judgement in which voters choose the candidate whose policy positions most closely match their own preferences.
-What WILL you do for me?
-"Forward Looking"
-Issue-focused