Political Science 40 Exam 1

What is Polarization?

When government officials of one party hold very different policy positions than members of the other party.

What are some effects of polarization?

produces gridlock, prevents compromise, and reduces citizen faith in the government.

What is a DW-Nominate?

Measures the ideological positions of members of the US Congress based on their voting records.

True or False: The ideologies of the most liberal republican will not overlap with the most conservative democrat.

True

Why was reform over the ideological close parties in the past encouraged?

Elections can only change if there is an alternative or clear choice between the parties.

Median

Unit that splits the top and bottom halves of data

median voter:

The person who is more conservative than half of voters and more progressive than the other half.

NOTE: not based on “moderate” views, but instead on where they fall on the distribution.

What are some common myths about polarization?

• congress is just following the public

• extreme candidates do better in elections

• Gerrymandering encourages position taking

Why is it not true that polarization is happening because congress is just following the public.

Our legislative bodies have become more polarized over time and the public caught up.

Do extreme candidates do better in elections?

No, studies show that when a party nominates a extreme over a moderate candidate, they do substantially worse in the primary elections.

What is Gerrymandering?

the practice of redrawing voting district boundaries to give a political party, group, or incumbent an unfair advantage in elections.

What is one reason people generally dont like Gerrymandering?

Members of congress are not held accountable because they dont have to appeal to the median voter(s) in their disrtict because they are never at risk of losing an election.

True or False: If gerrymandering is a really important part of polarization in the House, then we should see polarization in the senate.

False

What is the two stage process by which Congress members are elected?

1. Party members vote for their preferred candidates to be the party’s nominate

2. citizens vote for their preferred candidates from the party nominees.

Which step in the two stage process is responsible for polarization? Why?

The first step. If we had no primaries then party leaders would elect the moderate candidates in hope of winning the general election.

what is the utility equation?

-|ideal-policy|-cost

What are two ways to encourage moderates to run?

1. reduce costs of running

2. Increase benefits of holding office

What is one reason congress is polarized?

moderates wont run

What is Congressional partisan polarization?

political parties are moving apart ideologically

What is Affective polarization?

political parties are moving apart socially (they dislike each other).

Survey data v Behavioral data

survey data: asking people questions

behavioral data: watching what people do

ANES

American National Election Studies

What does this graph show?

Feelings for other parties have declined over time, affective polarization has increased.

What did the study regarding inter-party marriage find?

people are more likely to oppose their child marry someone from another party. another study found that some people just dont want to talk about politics.

What are some behavioral data that displays affective polarization?

Scholarships, job applications, dating apps

What are two main explanations for affective polarization?

1. people have a stronger attachment to their party as their identity

2. people prefer people with similar world views

What do Orr and Huber find?

Disliking partisans is really disliking people who dont share your worldview.

Do women and men win office at the same rate?

yes

Three explanations for lack of women in Congress are…?

1. women are socialized to have less of an interest in running for office

2. women are less interested in careers that lead to politics

3. women dont run because of voter bias and the need for them to be better than men.

explain explanation 1 for why there are so few women in congress.

women are less socialized to prefer political careers from a young age.

explain explanation 2 for why there are so few women in congress.

women are less likely to pursue pipeline careers (careers that are more likely to lead to political careers).

Explain explanation 3 as to why there are so few women in congress.

women are less likely to run because they anticipate voter bias, therefore if they do run, they are expected to be better than their male counterparts.

How can candidate expectations disadvantage women?

All candidates are expected to have experience and display family roles. Family expectations are stronger for women, and women with more experience may display less traditional family roles.

descriptive representation:

how well the characteristics of politicans mirror the characteristics of the public.

does opinion change cause policy change?

yes

does state policy change when opinion changes?

yes, for both social and economic policies

Do politicians change positions when opinion changes?

Responsiveness:

how much the government responds when people’s opinions change.

Congruence:

it measures the match between what people want and what the government does.

Median voter theory:

candidates compete for medians vote, if median changes so do candidates

What cant the median voter theory prove?

extreme polarization

Selection model

candidates stay stationary in their ideologies and the median changes and median winner wins.

To whose preferences are governments responsive?

studies show that high earners really want the policy, its more likely than if low earners really want it.

what two types of recipients of campaign donations?

• candidate committees

• party committees

what are the two main funding sources for campaign donations?

• individual and interest groups

What were FECA guidlines?

• limited contributions

• no limits on expenditures

• no corporate funding

PAC

political action committees; they pool money that oppose or promote candidates, legislation, etc.

What resulted in Super PACs

created by two legal decisions that removed limits on political spending

Super PACs guidelines

• cannot give to candidates directly

• cant coordinate with campaigns

• must disclose donors

• can receive money from corporations

do interest donors donate strategically?

donations are directed to members who matter, legislators who serve in relevant committees.

What do donors get by donating?

Access

why is campaign donation influence hard to study?

hard to measure all benefits of access, no evidence for direct influence

lobbying:

trying to influence government decsions

why would lobbying work?

• quid pro quo

• information

• subsidy

quid pro quo

lobbying is an exchange, lobbyists and policymakers get what they want

information

lobbying informs policymakers about policies and how it affects their constituents.

Subsidy

lobbyists write bills for congress