pols 102 wvu exam 3

two party system

a political system in which only two major parties compete for all of the elective offices. third party candidates usually have few, if any, changes to win elective office

duverger's law

the principle that in a democracy; with single-member districts and plurality, like the united states, only two parties' candidates will have a realistic change of winning political office

single member district

an electoral system in which every elected official represents a geographically defined area, such as state or congressional districts and each area elects one representative

winner take all elections

elections in which the candidate with the most votes wins

proportional representation

an election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote

multimember districts

an electorate that selects all candidates at large from the whole district; each voter is given the number of votes equivalent to the number of seats to be filled

matching funds

donations to presidential campaigns from the federal government that are determined by the amount of private funds a qualifying candidate raises

ballot access

laws in each state that determine how third party candidates can get on the general election ballot

third parties

electoral contenders other than the two major parties. American third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections

collective responsibility

the concept that all cabinet members agree on policy decisions and that all will be responsible for the results

wesberry v. sanders

ordered house districts to be as near equal in population as possible (extension of Baker v. Carr to congressional districts)

democratic coalition

a combined group of northern urban residents, jewish people, african americans and labor unions working tougher to achieve a political goal (also made up of disaffected moderate republicans, pro-choicers, intellectuals, people with lower incomes, non-cuban latinos, feminists and environmentalists)

republican coalition

a combined group of disaffected conservative democrats, pro-lifers, opponents of gay rights, missile-defense supporters, opponents of affirmative action, cuban americans and supporters of the development of natural resources on public land

new deal coalition

coalition formed by the democrats who dominated american politics from the 1930's to the 1960's. its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, catholics and jews, the poor, southerners, african americans and intellectuals

polarization

when two opposing sides feel intensely about an issue (or issues) that is difficult to compromise on

fifth party system

(1932-1964) civil rights acts of 1964, smithian (endorsers of laissez faire), republicans who believed in big business, laissez faire economics, free marker, strict interpretation, college is their hero.

new deal democrats- believed in keynsian economics (government regulates). believed in liberalism (equality over freedom), loose interpretation, pro-big gov, FDR was a socialist- which means believing in a federal social safety net

partisan voting

voting affected by party alliance

electoral college

a body of individuals which elect the president and vice president. the constitution created this body, which consists of gatherings of state electors in each state or formally cast their ballots for a candidate for whom they have pledge to vote. today, it is basically a formality. in the past, however, on four occasions, a president was elected based on this, even though he lost the popular vote

unit rule

a traditional party practice under which the majority of a state delegation can force the minority to vote for its candidate

incumbency advantages

the advantages gained by house members after serving more than one term, and it has increased over the last few years due to weak party identification, meaning voters are more easily swayed by standing representatives, and by increased resources to incumbents which allows them to go home and influence their constituents at home

gerrymandering

term that describes the deliberate rearrangement of boundaries of congressional districts to influence the outcome of elections

sorting

the alignment of partisanship and issue positions so that democrats tend to take more liberal positions and republicans tend to take more conservative ones

blind retrospection

when bad things are happening in the country, citizens blame the president (even if it's for shark attacks like the the early 1900's)

message

in a political campaign, the central thematic statement of why voters ought to prefer one candidate over others

party identification

an individual's enduring affective or instrumental attachment to one of the political parties; the most accurate single predictor of voting behavior