AP Gov Unit 4

Citizens Beliefs

the attitudes, values, and opinions that individuals hold regarding the political system, the role of government, public policies, and political leaders.

Baby Boomers

Individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964.

Conservative

someone whose political ideology favors limited national government intervention in the economy, free enterprise, individual responsibility, and traditional social values.

Free Enterprise

The core American political vale and economic system in which private businesses operate in competition and largely free of state control, where market forces (supply and demand) determine prices, products, and services with minimal government intervention.

Generation X

the demographic cohort of individuals born between 1965 and 1980.

Globalization

The increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of economies, political systems, and societies on a global scale, driven by technology, trade, and communication.

Ideology

A coherent, organized set of ideas and beliefs about the proper role of government, the relationship between the individual and the state, and how to address social and economic problems.

individualism

a core American value stating that individuals should shape their own destiny through personal choice, self-reliance, and initiative rather than relying on government action.

Liberal

Someone whose political ideology favors active national government involvement to solve social and economic problems, alongside personal freedom in social and private matters.

Libertarian

A political ideology that favors minimal government intervention in both economic and social matters, prioritizing maximum individual liberty, personal responsibility, and voluntary association.

Lifecycle effects

The shifts in an individual’s political attitudes, values, and policy priorities as they progress through different stages of life.

Limited Governments

A political system where the power of the government is restricted by a constitution and laws to prevent tyranny and protect individual rights.

Millennials

A major generational cohort used to study how shared historical events and demographic shifts shape political attitudes and voting behavior.

Moderate

A voter or politician whose policy preferences fall between liberal and conservative ideologies on the left-right spectrum.

Party Identification

A citizen’s psychological attachment, affinity, or emotional allegiance to a specific political party.

Political Socialization

The lifelong process through which individuals develop their political values, beliefs, opinions, and behaviors.

Populist

a political approach or ideolog that pits the “common, virtuous people” against a “corrupt, self-serving elite”

Progressive

The belief that government should actively intervene in the economy and society to solve problems, reduce inequality, and protect vulnerable groups.

Rule of Law

The political and legal principle that everyone, including government officials and those in power, must obey the law and is accountable to it.

Saliency

The degree to which a political issues is important or personally pressing to an individual or a group.

Silent Generation

The demographic cohort born roughly from 1925-1945, sitting between the greatest generation and baby boomers.

Valence Issues

A political issues on which nearly all voters share the same fundamental goal, meaning candidates do not argue over the goal itself, but rather who is most competent, honest, and capable of delivering it.

Wedge Issues

a controversial, polarizing political or social issues—often related to culture or values— that a candidate or party uses to split voters or create disunity within an opponent’s coalition.

Polling

The process of surveying a small, representative sample of citizens to measure and estimate the political attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of a larger target population.

Approval Rating

The percentage of respondents in an opinion poll who express approval of the job performance of a political figure, institution, or policy.

Bandwagon Effect

A phenomenon where voters shift their support, opinions, or votes toward a candidate or position simply because public opinion polls and media coverage report that they are winning.

Benchmark Polls

An initial, scientific survey conducted by a campaign— often before a candidate officially announces their run— to measure baseline public support, name recognition, and voter perceptions of issue strengths and weaknesses.

Entrance Polls

A survey conducted by pollsters or the media asking voters who they plan to vote for and why before they officially cast their ballots or enter a caucus or polling place.

Exit Polls

A survey conducted with voters immediately after they leave a polling place on Election Day.

Focus Groups

A small, demographically diverse group of people brought together for an in-depth conversation to gauge reactions to a political candidate, issues, or policy proposal.

Margin of Errors

The amount of random sampling error in a scientific poll expressed as a plus or minus range.

Push Polling

A negative campaigning technique , typically conducted by telephone, used to influence voters by asking specific questions about an issue or candidate.

Random-digit dialing

A polling technique used by political scientists and survey researchers to place telephone calls to a random combination of both listed and unlisted phones numbers to build a representative sample of population.

Random Sample

A polling method where every member of the target population has an equal and known chance of being selected.

Representative Sample

Small, accurately selected subset of a larger population that mirrors its demographic and political makeup so that pollsters can generalize the results to the entire group,

Sampling Error

The natural, random difference between the result obtained from a sample and the true value that would exist if the entire population had been interviewed.

Stratification

A polling method where a target population is divided into smaller demographic subgroups (strata) before a random sample is drawn from each group.

Tracking Polls

A scientific poll that is conducted repeatedly over time throughout a campaign to measure how public views, support, or momentum for a candidate or issues change.

Universe

The entire group of people whose attitudes, opinions, or behavior a poll or survey aims to measure.

weighting

can refer to two different concepts depending on whether you are talking about public opinion polling.

Agenda

The set of problems, issues, and priorities that government officials and decision-makers are actively paying attention to and trying to address.

Bonds

A debt security where an investor loans money to the federal, state, or local government in exchange for regular interest payments and the return of the principal amount at a set maturity date.

Discount Rate

The interest rate the Federal Reserve charge commercial banks and the other depository institutions for short-term loans.

Entitlements

Federal government programs that guarantee specific financial or service benefits to any individuals who meets the legal eligibility requirements established by law.

Federal Reserve Board

The independent central bank of the United States responsible for conducting monetary policy and regulating the financial system.

Fiscal Policy

The government’s use of taxation and spending policies— set jointly by Congress and the president— to influence the economy.

Flat Tax

An income tax system that applies a single, uniform tax rate to all taxpayers regardless of their income level, eliminating graduated brackets.

Globalization

The process by which economies, political systems, societies, and cultures become increasingly interconnected and independent across the globe.

Inflation

A rise in the general price level of goods and services, which simultaneously causes a decrease in the purchasing power of money.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

The federal bureaucratic agency responsible for administering and enforcing U.S tax laws.

Mandatory Spending

Federal spending required by existing permanent laws rather than by the annual appropriations (budget) process.

Means Test

An eligibility requirement that grants public-assistance and social welfare benefits only to individuals whose income and financial assets fall below a specific threshold.

Medicaid

A joint-federal state entitlement program that provides health care coverage to low-income individuals, families, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disability.

Medicare

A federal health insurance program in the United States established in 1965 established under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Monetary Policy

Actions taken by the Fed to manage the nation’s money supply and interest rates to achieve economic stability.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

A 1994 treaty among the USA, Canada, and Mexico, that phased out most tariffs and trade barriers to create a regional-free trade bloc.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)

A landmark 2010 federal healthcare reform law designed to expand health insurance coverage, lower healthcare costs, and enhance consumer protections.

Progressive Tax

A tax system where tax rate increases as the taxpayer’s income or taxable amount rises.

Reserve Requirement

A federal reserve rule that dictates the minimum percentage of customer deposits that commercial banks must hold as non-lendable cash rather than lending out.

Sixteenth Amendment

Gives congress the power to levy and collect a direct federal income tax from citizens w/o having to apportion it among the states based on population.

Social Security Act (1935)

A New Deal law passed during the Great Depression that established a federal social insurance program providing old-age benefits, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children, funded through payroll taxes.

Social Welfare

Government programs decided to provide cash or in-kind benefits to individuals and families based on either legal entitlements or specific means testing.

Supply-side economics

A fiscal policy theory posting that economic growth and job creation are best achieved by lowering taxes, reducing government regulations, and free-market deregulation.

Trade Balance

The difference between the total value of a nation’s exports and the total value of its imports over a specific period.