Studied by 13 people
Suffrage
The right to vote in elections :3
Electorate
all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.
15th amendment
race should not prevent someone from voting
17th amendment
direct votes for senators
19th amendment
women can vote now :D
24th amendment
no poll tax
26th amendment
people can vote from age 18, not 21
Direct primary
preliminary election where the people vote for a party’s candidates → less than 25% of Americans show up
Recall
power of voters to remove a person from office through a vote before the end of their term; typically only for local offices (clearly not the president)
Referendum
a vote where the people decide on a specific policy (a public vote a law dealing with a specific issue)
Initiative
allows citizens to bypass state legislature to place proposed statues (in rare cases, even constitutional amendments) on ballots
Rational-choice voting
where you actually do research and think about which president would best represent your values in office and vote for that candidate
Retrospective voting
where you think about a candidate’s past actions (fairly recent past) and vote based on that
Prospective voting
where you vote based on how you think a person will do in office
Party-line voting
where you don’t really do any research and just vote based on your party :0
Motor voter law
requires states to allow voters to register by mail when they apply for a drivers license. Makes it easier for voters to register
Primary elections
the election where voters indicate which member of a party’s candidate they prefer
Closed primary
if you are not part of the candidate, you CANNOT vote in that primary
Open primary
primary election where people are not required to state their party affiliation (republicans can vote in democrat open primaries, etc.)
Nonpartisan Blanket primary
primary election where all the candidates running for an office run against each other at once instead of being divided into parties
General elections
Elections that actually put people in office
Midterm elections
general elections that happen directly in between a president’s 4 year term (ex. Congress seats)
Coattail effect
a phenomenon where a popular party leader (typically a president) is able to get votes for another candidate of the same party
Caucus
where people take an entire evening to walk around and stand next to which candidate they like → the candidate with the lowest vote gets eliminated and the voters choose another person (problem is that everybody can see which person you vote for)
Super Tuesday
United States’ presidential primary election day when greatest number of states hold primary elections or caucuses
Superdelegates
In the democratic party, where a delegate is unpledged, meaning that they can vote for whoever they want, not necessarily reflecting the beliefs of the people
Electoral college
the true voting system of the United States (majority vote)
Critical elections
an election that leads to major party realignment
Realigning elections
synonym for critical elections where there is an election that leads to a major party realignment
Dealigning elections
where an entire voter group abandons a party to become independent or nonvoting
Split-ticket voting
choosing republicans there, democrats here, republicans over there, etc.
Federal Election Commission
endorses federal campaign finance laws; public funding laws and contribution limits
Freedom of expression
right to hold any belief you have and express them freely without interference
Soft money
money that is donated indirectly → money given to the party, not the candidate (there is no restriction on the amount of money that can be given this way
Hard money
money that is donated directly to the candidate; there is a cap on the amount of money that can be given in this way
Federal Election Campaign Act 1974
Federal Election Commission
limit on how much money is given
limit on how much money they can spend
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)
Set a restriction on soft money
Citizens United v. FEC
Limits on contributions from individuals/corporations = violation of 1st amendment freedom of speech rights
political spending = protected speech
Two-party system
nearly all candidates are part of 1 of 2 parties (only a very few number are independent or 3rd party)
New Deal coalition
alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the new deal and voted democrat from 1932-late 1960s
Divided government
when the executive and the legislative branches are of two different parties (example, when the president is democrat and the majority of the legislative branch is republican)
Gridlock
the government can’t get anything done because the government is divided between the two parties
Straight ticket
where you vote for the same party for all offices
Candidate centered campaigns
where the candidate themselves has a fanbase and the people vote for the individuals themselves, not their party (typically based on wealth and/or media exposure)
Interest groups
an organization of people that is interested in furthering a specific area and use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion or policy
Political action committees (PACs)
raise money to influence people to vote for candidate
connected → formed by corps or other entities
only collect funds from members of their organization (donated directly to candidates + unlimited $ as long as individual limits are obeyed)
non-connected → independently
around specific interest (like gun-laws)
limited by law
accept donations from public + donate directly
super → formed by anyone
unlimited donations
cannot coordinate with a candidate
Lobbying
seek to influence a politician or public official on an issue
Grassroots
influencing government officials by pressuring them through mail, letters, phone calls, etc. from large number of constituents
Iron triangle
relationship between bureaucracy, interest groups, and congress
Issue network
alliance between multiple interest groups + individuals to promote a common cause that influences government policy
Mass media
means of communication (news, television, movies, etc.)
Gatekeepers
the press calls attention to certain issues → the media sets the issues that politicians have to address
Media events
events that are staged for the media that look spontaneous
ex. a president going to local stores to show that they are down-to-earth
Trial balloon
intentional news leak for political attention
Agenda setting
the power of the news media to place certain importance of topics on the “public agenda”
Fiscal policy
the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy (expansionary + contractionary)
Monetary policy
set of actions the government takes to control the nation’s money supply and achieve economic growth
Discretionary spending
spending that must be approved every year (amounts can be raised or lowered)
everything other than social security, medicaid, and interest on debt (SIM)
National debt
the total amount of money that the government borrowed (by various means)
Federal budget
the amount of money that is available for the federal government to spend in a specific year
Social welfare programs
programs that offer assistance to individuals in need (health care assistance, etc.)
Entitlement programs
a government program that guarantees benefits to a specific group of people
ex. food stamps, veteran’s admin programs
Fiscal year
a 12 month period for accounting or bookkeeping (typically does not coincide with regular year
october - september
Appropriations
money set aside for a specific purpose (both mandatory and discretionary spending)
for discretionary, has to go through a budget request with 12 house and 12 senate appropriations subcommittees
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA
reduced or limited tariffs between canada, us, and mexico, encouraging trade between the 3 countries
typically on agricultural
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
replaced NAFTA
more balanced than NAFTA
has to be renewed every 6 years
Mandatory spending
government spending that stays the same (no annual approval)
social security, medicaid, and interest on debt (SIM)
Note
Flashcard