Unit 2, quiz 2:Campaign finance, interest groups, media

hard money

Money that is subject to limits. Can be donated by PACs or people. Monitored/limited

soft money

Money with no limits. Can’t be directly linked to a candidate and is donated by people, corporations or comitties.

campaigns

• social recogniton/getting to meet politicians

• potential jobs

• political participation

these are all reasons people donate to __________

PAC

Independent organizations that donate to/work with political campaigns. They have to share donor names and have a limited amount of money they can donate. They often make ads.

Super PAC

Independent organizations that raise money for political causes. They have to share donor names, but they can’t donate or coordinate directly with a candidate. They often make issue ads that are unspecific to candidates.

Dark money groups

also called 501©(4) groups, these are organizations that don’t have to disclose donors and can donate as much as they want, but can’t coordinate with poltiical campaigns.

FEC

A federal agency that regulates campaign finances by setting limits on on contributions and requiring campaigns to disclose finances.

PACs

Which type of group (dark money, PAC, Super PAC) can coordinate with campaigns

PACs

Which type of group (dark money, PAC, Super PAC) has contribution limits

Federal election campaign acts

A act/case that allowed PACs, set up the FEC and required that campaigns must disclose financial contributions.

Bipartisan campaign reform act

A act/case that tried to ban soft money and said that groups couldn’t run issue ads in 60 days of the election.

Citizens United V. FEC

A act/case that said that groups COULD run issue ads within 60 days of an election, spend unlimited money on independent expenditures as long as it isn’t donated to a campaign

McCutcheon V. FEC

A act/case that got rid of any limits on the amount of money that an individual can donate.

Interest group

A group of people with the same views that work to influence politics.

Lobbyist

People interest groups hire to persuade elected officials to support their agenda

Revolving door

The concept that former congressmen/senators could go an work as lobbyists and use their former influence to get things done in congress.

Business

A type of interest group that tries to advance the goals of a business or corporation

Agriculture

A type of interest group that tries to advance the goals of people who work in the agriculture space.

Public interest

A type of interest group that tries to advance public interest and preserve the US’s democracy

Labor unions

A type of interest group that tries to advance the goals of a group of unionized workers

professional organizations

A type of interest group that tries to advance the goals of workers in a certain profession

issue oriented

A type of interest group that tries to advance their goals surrounding a certain issue

Grassroots organizing

A strategy that interest groups use. They get the public to help advance their goals.

Mass media

A strategy that interest groups use. They use TV, social media and propaganda to convince people that their agenda is good.

Litigation

A strategy that interest groups use. They take their issue to court to try and get the legal system to rule in their favor.

PACs

A strategy that interest groups use. They start political action committees to raise money for their group that they can use to convince politicians to do what they want.

AARP

An interest group that represents senior citizens

ACLU

An interest group that tries to protect individual rights

NAACP

An interest group that works to advance the rights of Black Americans

Gatekeeper

One of the roles of the media. Media influences what issues become popular or important and decide what info gets shared with the public.

scorekeeper

One of the roles of the media. Media keeps track of who is ahead or behind in an election and helps decide who is winning based on coverage.

watchdog

One of the roles of the media. It reports on the activities of the government and keeps it in check. It is allowed to do this by the 1st amendment.

propaganda

Media that tries to convince people to adopt a certain position.

campaign ads

Ads specifically designed to get people to like a candidate

stacking the deck

A campaign ad strategy.

Using statistics in a one-sided way that leaves info out.

glittering generalities

A campaign ad strategy.

uses vague, nice sounding words. No specific stances

plain folks

A campaign ad strategy.

tries to make the candidate look like an average voter to appeal to “normal people”

bandwagon

A campaign ad strategy.

“everyone supports me so you should also”. A classic example is when there are crowds of people at a rally supporting a candidate.

testimonials

A campaign ad strategy.

endorsements from celebs or well known people

coat-tailing

A campaign ad strategy.

candidate tries to look good by connecting themselves with another popular figure

mudslinging

A campaign ad strategy.

attacking opponenets

media bias

when journalists express ideas that are biased towards one end of the political spectrum

spin

A type of media bias.

vague, sensational, dramatic language

unsubstantiated claims

A type of media bias.

claims without any evidence to back them up

slant

A type of media bias.

tells only one side of the story

word choice

A type of media bias.

using words with poltical implications

photo bias

A type of media bias.

using a photo that tells a story and influences the readers’ perception of something

Guilt by association

A campaign ad strategy.

one candidate tries to make their opponent look bad by connecting them to a bad person.