Government Exam 3 Review: Public Opinion, Participation, Parties, Interest Groups, and Media

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering public opinion, political participation, political parties, interest groups, Texas state government, and the news media from Professor Harvey's Exam 3 lecture review.

Public Opinion Polls

A device for measuring public opinion whereby a relatively small number of individuals (the sample) are interviewed for the purpose of estimating the opinions of a whole community (the population).

Sample

The relatively small number of individuals selected to be interviewed in a poll to represent the whole population.

Population

The entire group of people whose opinions are being estimated through sample sizes.

Random Selection

The key principle of scientific polling where respondents are chosen by chance from a population, ensuring that their opinions will approximate those of the population as a whole.

Sampling Error

A measure of the accuracy of a poll expressed as a plus-or-minus percentage (e.g., roughly $\pm 3\%$ for a sample of $1{,}000$ people), which decreases as the sample size increases.

Direction (of Public Opinion)

An attribute of public opinion that refers to whether an individual holds a pro or con position on a particular issue.

Intensity (of Public Opinion)

An attribute of public opinion that measures how strongly an individual feels regarding an issue.

Salience

An attribute of public opinion regarding how important people think an issue is compared to other issues; it tends to rise as intensity increases.

Primary Socializing Agents

Early agents of socialization—specifically the family, schools, and religion—that shape a person's basic political perspectives during childhood.

Secondary Socializing Agents

Influences that emerge as a person gets older to shape political views, including peers, the media, political leaders, and major historical events like the Vietnam War or 9/11.

Party Identification

A person's loyalty to and emotional attachment toward a political party, which typically stays stable throughout life unless altered by major historical shocks.

Political Ideology

A general belief system about the proper role and purpose of the government in society.

Economic Liberals

Individuals who believe that the government should take active steps and spend money to assist those who are economically struggling.

Economic Conservatives

Individuals who believe that the government should stay out of the economic market and private business interests.

Cultural (Social) Liberals

Individuals who believe lifestyle choices should be left to the individual and that the government should not enforce traditional values over newer ones.

Cultural (Social) Conservatives

Individuals who believe that the government should actively uphold and defend traditional values.

Delegate

A representative whose primary responsibility is to act as a direct agent of their constituents by doing exactly what those constituents want.

Trustee

A representative who considers the desires of constituents but uses their own conscience and independent judgment to determine what is in the best interests of the public.

Manufactured Consent

The deliberate framing of an issue by political leaders to build public support, exemplified by the Bush administration's framing of Iraq's weapons program to increase invasion support to $70\%$ in 2003.

Nineteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1920 that granted women the right to vote in the United States.

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that lowered the voting age to 18, established partly due to the Vietnam War under the logic: 'if you are old enough to fight, you're old enough to vote.'

Voter Registration

The practice of placing a citizen's name on an official list of voters before they are eligible to exercise their right to vote.

Moore v. Harper

A Supreme Court case that placed limits on state legislatures' power over federal elections, rejecting North Carolina's claim of unreviewable election authority.

Apathy

A lack of interest in politics that contributes to low voter participation.

Alienation

A feeling of personal powerlessness rooted in the belief that the government does not care about citizens, which leads individuals to not vote.

Social Capital

The sum of face-to-face interactions and civic bonds among citizens, as defined by political scientist Robert Putnam.

Political Party

An ongoing coalition of interests joined together under a common label to get its candidates elected to public office.

Party-Centered Campaigns

Campaigns in which the political party organization holds significant influence over nominations, messaging, and election strategies.

Candidate-Centered Campaigns

Campaigns in which individual candidates take the initiative to formulate their own platforms, raise campaign funds, and devise their own strategies.

Grassroots Party

A political party structure established by Andrew Jackson that relied directly on organizing voters at the local level through rallies and events.

Party Realignment

A period of extraordinary political change marked by divisive issues, shifting voter coalitions, and an enduring change in the parties' policies.

Single-Member District System

An electoral system (also known as the winner-take-all system) in which the candidate who receives the plurality of votes wins the office, discouraging third parties.

Proportional Representation System

An electoral system in which legislative seats are allocated to political parties based on each party's percentage of the popular vote.

Direct Primary Elections

Elections in which voters directly choose which candidates will represent their party in the general election.

Closed Primary

A primary election in which participation is strictly limited to voters who are registered members of that political party.

Open Primary

A primary election that permits independents and members of other political parties to participate in choosing a party's nominee.

Bull Moose Party

The progressive third party founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 after breaking from the Republican Party.

Economic Groups

Interest groups organized around financial and material interests—such as corporations, labor unions, and farm groups—to protect jobs and profits.

Citizen Groups

Lobbying organizations driven by a commitment to a particular purpose or cause, rather than a desire for individual material or financial gain.

Private (Individual) Goods

Benefits, such as jobs or higher wages, given directly to individuals that an organization (like a labor union) can withhold if members do not comply.

Collective (Public) Goods

Non-excludable benefits that belong to everyone and can be enjoyed by individuals regardless of whether they contributed to securing them.

Free-Rider Problem

The challenge faced by citizen groups when individuals receive and enjoy public goods (such as public broadcasting) without contributing money or effort.

Iron Triangle

A durable, mutually beneficial relationship between interest groups, a congressional subgroup or committee, and an executive government agency.

Issue Network

A loose, temporary network of policy specialists, politicians, and lobbyists who come together to address an immediate issue and disband once it is settled.

Super PACs

Independent political action committees authorized by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that can raise and spend unlimited funds to support candidates, provided their spending is not coordinated with the candidate.

Right-to-Work Laws

State legislation (as enacted in Texas) establishing that a worker cannot be required to join or financially support a labor union as a condition of employment.

Fragmented Government

A governmental structure (such as in Texas) where power is decentralized and state agencies lack unified control under the governor, making them more vulnerable to interest group influence.

Information Commons

The period in American media history when national news outlets (such as ABC, CBS, and NBC) shared a common, standard portrayal of national politics.

Yellow Journalism

A sensationalist, lurid style of newspaper reporting popular around 1900 that emphasized provocative headlines to increase circulation.

Echo Chambers

Media environments where audiences are exposed almost exclusively to news, arguments, and commentary that align with and reinforce their existing viewpoints.

Fairness Doctrine

An FCC regulation rescinded in 1987 that required broadcasters to provide a reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting points of view on controversial issues.

Misinformation

The spread of false, inaccurate, or misleading information without an explicit intention to deceive.

Disinformation

The deliberate dissemination of false or misleading statements with the specific intention to deceive audiences.

Signaling Function

The media's ability to alert the public to major events and developments, allowing them to shape agenda setting.

Common-Carrier Function

The media's role in serving as an open conduit through which elected political leaders communicate their views to the broader public.

Watchdog Function

The media's investigative responsibility to scrutinize public officials and expose incompetence, hypocrisy, or corruption, earning it the label 'the fourth branch of government.'

Framing

The process by which media organizations select and emphasize specific aspects of an event or issue to build a particular narrative.

Priming

The process by which the media's framing of a story influences the criteria and perspective audiences use to evaluate a leader or political issue.

Entertainment Function (Soft News)

The media's focus on lurid and entertaining topics—such as celebrity gossip, scandals, and true crime podcasts—to retain viewers in a high-choice media environment.