AP Gov Media Unit

In the late 18th and 19th centuries…

Newspapers were only accessible by a certain number of people

Mass media

Media designed to reach a larger audience

When did radio become popular

1930s

When did TV become popular

1950s

What happened with media in the 1980s

Media started catering to narrower audiences

When did CNN and other news media rise

1980s and 1990s

What did cable TV do for news intake

It increased the number of options (along with the internet doing that too)

What does deregulation of media lead to

Consolidation

What has happened to confidence in TV shows recently

Confidence has decreased

Bias in media

Increasing amounts of Americans feel there’s an increasing amount of bias in media

What can PACs do vs super PACs

PACs:

• Work directly with campaigns

• Donate to campaigns

• Receive donations (capped at 5,000)

Super PACs:

• Unlimited donations

• Run independent campaigns

Iron triangles

Long-term, stable, tight alliances between bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups for certain policy goals

Issue networks

Loose, temporary, and often contentious groups of interest groups, journalists, policymakers, policy advocates, etc. on certain policy issues

Social movements

• Often short-lived

• Outsider groups surrounding a certain social issue

• Difficult for social movements to become interest groups because interest groups have a lot of resources

What technique do groups typically employ if they don’t have a lot of money

Grassroots

Largest category of interest group

Economic

Largest lobbying group

US Chamber of Commerce

Where does much of lobbying power come from

Providing timely, useful information like research or testifying

Lobbying

Interacting with all 3 branches of government on leiglsaiton

Net neutrality

Calling for service providers to not create “fast lanes” for certain people who pay more or deliberately slowing down internet traffic to certain websites to favor their own services

What is true about two senate seats in one seat

No 2 seats are open at the same time

What didi the 1842 apportionment act do

Created single-member districts

how many members are in house

435

Apportionment

Associating representatives to districts/states based on census counts

How often does census happen

10 years

What happens after census

• H of R numbers

• Redistricting

Trends in house seats by geography

• Gain in house seats for South and West

• Losses for states in Northeast and Midwest

In most states, who draws district boundaries

Legislatures (other times its nonpartisan commissions)

How many seats in House are competitive

40

Battleground state

Close contest between candidates

Swing states

Similar support for parties and swing back and forth between them

How does caucus vote vs primary

Caucus= public vote

Primary = secret ballot

How do democrats award delegates

• Proportional system of sending delegates based on percentage of votes won

How do Republicans award delegates

• Elect based on state overall and then based on districts (winner take all)

How is the republican system different from the democratic system

• Can be quicker

• Also keeps viable candidates from running because it’s quick

What are campaigns centering more on these days

Candidate-centered (national party platforms losing influence)

Who creates schedules for caucuses and primaries

national party leaders

Where are the basics of elections laid out

Article II section I

Requirements to be president

35 years, born in US, and 14 years in country

General trend in candidate nominations

Calling for increased openness→ aligning candidates with regular people

Who controls details on how a candidate gets nominated

Parties

Key differences candidates need to account for in general elections

• Need to now persuade nonvoters and independents→ not being too center, not being too leaning

Since the 1980s, more people have identified themselves as…

Democrat

Since mid-1960s, Republican Party base began shifting from

Northeast to South and West

President Carter

Large support from the South, deeply religious beliefs

Reagan

Reinvigorated party, lower taxes, small government, Reagan Democrats

Clinton

Won by convincing his party to be more ideologically center and blaming HW Bush for economic recession

W Bush

Compassionate conservative and gained evangelical christian vote

Since mid-1990s, part control has

Swung back and forth

How do most people feel about negative ads

Think they’re not helpful

How did Obama respond to 2008 recession

Increased spending for government programs

Nearly half of the US electorate self-identifies as what

Independent

Main roles of political parties

• Informer

• Nominating

• Watchdog

• Governmental (articulating policy)

Why is it important for parties to have majorities in congress?

• They can get leadership positions in all committees and chairman Roels

Realignments

Rare times where supports of a party realign to support a different party→ EX: New Deal Democrats

Party eras

• Long amounts of time where one party is in power/control

• Marked by critical elections

Since 1968…

Party control has gone back and forth

How do parties interact with candidates in modern campaigning?

• Very candidate-focused campaigning process where candidates come first and parties come second

• It used to be parties coming first and candidates coming second

How do politicians/parties change platforms to attract support?

• They seek to gain favorability from coalitions by talking about key talking points among those coalitions

What are the three ways parties change party structure?

• Realignment

• Campaign finance laws

• Communication and data (project narwhal)

What impacts third parties

Winner take all districts

Key ideologies of Democrats

• More spending for public programs, less government intervention in social policy, more government intervention in economic policy, decreased military spending, diplomacy through multinational organizations and IGOs, law is being unequally applied to minorities, society priorities over individual, increase or maintain minimum wage, rehab over punishment

Key ideologies of Republicans

• Balanced budget, increased defense spending, peace through strength in IR, decreased spending for public programs, law is being applied equally for all people, tough on crime

Key ideologies of libertarians

• Decreased gun control, generally for free market, against taxed, repeal IRS, repeal income tax, generally opposed to welfare, pro gun rights, decreased minimum wage, and against death penalty

When do presidents have the greatest amount of momentum

Beginning of terms

Since the 1860s, presidents have been either…

• Republican or Democrat

Shelby County v. Holder general arguments/decisions:

• Basically found the formula used in the VRA unconstitutional because it used an old system to calculate which states to specifically target for preclearance→ argued based on 14th amendment of equal protection

Two main trends since Shelby County decision

• Decreased mail-in

• Stricter voter ID

Which topic generally carries some of the highest debate in the country today

• Social security

Does political ideology usually stay stable over time

• Yes, your core political values/ideologies will not change with age, even though there may be things that impact certain parts of it

What kinds of ratings ar known to have little stability in the US

• Presidential approval ratings

Tracking poll

• Usually used by professionals, tracks the opinions of a certain group over a long period of time to gauge public interest

What do moderates view themselves as

• Pragmatists who use common sense rather than using philosophical arguments for political problems

Which committee decides what position a party will take on an issue

Platform committee

What election style do most states use to award delegates to a candidate

• Primaries

Election order/timeline

• Invisible primary, primaries and caucuses, convention, general election

What kind of spending is education

Discretionary

Splinter vs ideological parties

• Splinter parties: splinter off from a main party because of internal differences

• Ideological parties: centered on a more stable ideology and usually last longer

Key example of party realignment

• 1968 election shift of democrats to republicans

Impacts of Baker v. Carr

• Addressed malapportionment

• Most states redistricted in 1960s

• TN redistricted so there was equal population

• One vote= one person doctrine

Why is it strategic for a candidate to win in an early primary state

• Gives them momentum

Who does caucus usually appeal to

• Party’s extremists

Since the 1970s

Power between parties in White House has swung back and forth

When are amicus curiae briefs usually used

• High profile cases

What do primaries usually do for the power of the party

• Usually decreases the power of the party because primaries require candidates to use their own money for campaigns

State powers in elections

• Certify election results

• Draw congressional districts