AP U.S. Government and Politics: Elections, Political Participation, and Institutions

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering political participation, interest groups, elections, congressional representation, and party dynamics.

Political Participation

Voting in an election, which can take many forms in a representative democracy.

Political action committees (PAC's)

Organizations that raise money to elect and defeat candidates; they can be formed by individuals, corporations, and unions.

Linkage institution

An institution connecting individuals with the government, with elections serving as an example.

Demographic Characteristics

Measurable traits of a population including economic status, education, age, race, or ethnicity.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

A measure of an individual's wealth, income, occupation, and educational attainment.

Political Efficacy

The confidence that an individual can make an effective political change.

Political Mobilization

Efforts to "get out the vote" that can be decisive in an election; can be direct (recruiting, sponsoring meetings, requisitions contributions) or indirect (building social networks where potential voters engage with friends or associates).

Registration requirements

Rules governing who can vote, how ballots may be cast, and where a person may go to vote.

Rational choice voting

Voting based on what a citizen believes is in his or her own best interest.

Retrospective voting

Reflecting back on an incumbent's (person who held the power) past performance before making a choice in an election.

Prospective voting

Casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter.

Party-line voting

When voters cast ballots for members of one political party for all of the offices on the ballot.

Electoral college

System where voters do not directly vote for the president but vote for a slate of electors pledged to vote for a nominee; places limits on who may serve as an elector, requires $270$ votes to win, and does not have an equal number of electors per state.

Winner takes all system

A system where whoever wins a state wins the two electoral votes allocated for the Senate, and the rest are awarded for winning a plurality of voters within each congressional district.

Battleground states

States where polling shows a close contest between candidates.

Swing states

States where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans.

Get out the vote (GOTV)

Efforts that cost money to mobilize voters, turning existing supporters into actual votes and voters.

Super PAC's

Political action committees allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on a political campaign.

Interest groups

Voluntary associations of people who come together with the goal of getting policies they favor enacted.

Social Movements

Loosely organized groups where people come together to educate the public, put pressure on policymakers, and make social and political change with the goal of placing issues on the policy agenda.

Theory of participatory democracy

A model that allows citizens to impact policymaking through their involvement in civil society, which consists of groups outside the government that advocate for policies.

Pluralist theory

The distribution of political power among many competing groups to keep any single group in check, allowing groups lacking money to compete through large membership numbers.

Elitist theory

The theory that the wealthy elite class possesses a disproportionate amount of power and holds the top positions in government and industry.

Policy Agents

The set of issues policymakers pay attention to, which elitist theorists argue is controlled by elites due to the wealthy having greater access to policymakers than average citizens.

Collective action

An effort where individuals come together to contribute their energy, time, or money toward a larger group goal.

Collective good (public good)

A public benefit such as strong national defense, clean air, or a fireworks display that provides no incentive to join a group because everyone benefits.

Free riders

Individuals who benefit from the actions and advocacy of an interest group without joining, posing a threat to groups working for collective goods.

Selective benefits

A method to overcome the free rider problem by offering incentives available only to members who join or contribute, such as discounts on goods, publications, special offers, and travel opportunities.

Constituencies

Bodies of voters in a designated area who elect a representative or senator, as established in the Constitution.

Apportionment

The process of determining the number of representatives allocated to each state.

Redistricting

The process wherein each state redraws the boundaries of its electoral districts.

Gerrymandering

The intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or group of voters.

Partisan gerrymandering

Drawing district boundaries into strange shapes specifically to benefit a political party.

Majority minority districts

Electoral districts in which voters of a minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority.

Malapportionment

When population is distributed in uneven numbers between legislative districts, ruled unconstitutional under the $14\text{th}$ Amendment.

Incumbency

Running for reelection as an officeholder as opposed to running for the first time, which usually results in a win and has a large effect on electoral outcomes.

Incumbency advantage

An electoral advantage that is greater in the House of Representatives than in the Senate due to two-year versus longer terms.

Political parties

Groups of people that organize and support candidates running for public office.

Party identification

The degree to which voters feel connected to a particular political party.

Straight ticket voting

Voting method used by party-line voters who pick candidates entirely based on their political party affiliation.

Spell ticket voting

An electoral phenomenon where voters have been less likely to support candidates of different parties in a single election.

Party platform

A document that defines a political party's general stance on political issues.

Recruitment

Efforts by political parties to find and select candidates who best reflect the party's philosophy and can draw voters.

Party coalition

Groups of voters who support party policies and consistently vote for the party's candidates, though they may shift or leave over time.

Realignment

A major shift in allegiance to political parties that is driven by changes in the issues uniting or dividing voters.

Critical elections

A major national election that significantly shifts the balance of power between the two political parties.

Party eras

Historical periods during which one political party wins the majority of national elections.

Era of divided government

The period from $1969$ until $2016$ where government was divided, with one party controlling one or both houses of Congress and the opposing party holding the presidency.

Nomination

The phase at the beginning of a congressional and presidential campaign where declared candidates compete against others within their own party for the official party endorsement.

Delegates

Party representatives whose support and votes candidates seek to secure the official party nomination.

Primary elections

Elections in which state voters select delegates who support a particular presidential candidate.

National convention

The final phase of the nomination process where delegates vote to choose the party's nominee and committees write the party platform.

Candidate centered

Campaigns where party elites lose influence over nomination outcomes, as voters in primaries and caucuses may choose nominees rather than those favored by party elites.

Two party system

A political system dominated by two major parties (Democratic and Republican) throughout the majority of the nation's history, despite no legal requirement for it.

Proportional representation system

An electoral system where citizens vote for political parties rather than individuals, and parties receive legislative seats based on the percentage of the vote received.

Single Member plurality system

An electoral system where voters cast a single vote for one candidate, and whoever receives the most votes (a plurality) in a state or congressional district wins, even without exceeding $50\%$ support.

Third parties

Minor political parties that usually do not win elections but focus on single issues they believe the major parties fail to address.