LINKAGE INSTITUTIONS - Political Behavior/Culture VOCAB - UNIT 2 AP GOV

based on the 4 sets

Consensus

General agreement among various groups on fundamental principles, values, or policy goals

Critical election

An election that signals a significant, lasting shift in the partisan preferences of the electorate, often leading to a new party era or realignment

Efficacy

The belief that one’s political participation matters and can influence government actions

Gender gap

The pattern by which men and women differ in their political preferences, party identification, or voting behavior

Margin-of-error

A statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a poll’s results: it indicates the range within which the true population parameter likely falls

Polarization

The extent to which opinions on an issue or party identification are opposed, often to sharp

Political socialization factors

The influences that shape an individual’s beliefs and values over time, including family, schools, peers, media, religion, and major life events

Polling

The process of systematically collecting public opinion data from a sample of individuals to estimate views of a larger population.

Public opinion

The distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues at a given time, often measured through surveys.

Sampling (representative)

Uses probability-based methods to select a sample that reflects the population, producing generalizable results

Sampling (straw)

An informal, nonrandom method that does not yield reliable, generalizable data

Split-ticket voting

Casting votes for candidates from different parties for different offices in the same election

Straight-ticket voting

Voting for candidates of the same political party for all offices on the ballot