Unit 2 MCQ Terms

K

Individualism

• Each person has the ability to shape their life and their destiny through the choices that they make 

  • Correlation to individualism → foundation to freedom, we can do those things, and we are not commanded by the gov to believe in certain things 

  • “Life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”

• Two-sided coin: one side is that we can make decisions for ourselves and leaders, and the other side of the coin, we also have individual responsibility and be informed about who leads us/what they do 

• Individuals are responsible for themselves and the things they do themselves

Equality of opportunity

• All people are given the ability to compete and succeed

  • Mainly economically

• Everyone can have the ability to participate in the political system

• “All men are created equal”

  • Not about the intention that every person should be equal in ability or character, but everyone has the ability to pursue their individualistic dream of life, liberty, and happiness, not about equal outcome

Free enterprise

• The economic market determines the prices, products, and services that are available, with little government involvement in economic transactions among citizens and businesses 

• Based on the idea of individualism (factors of a free market)

  • Gov can’t tell what cars you can or can’t buy 

• Show a trend that gov involvement in the economic market has increased to help people get jobs, and more equality of opportunity (started 1932 ~ FDR

Rule of law

• The belief that every person, even those and specifically those in power, must follow and is accountable to the same laws that government everyone 

  • Doesn’t matter if you’re homeless or the president, you are subject to all the laws in the gov (in reality there are inconsistently)

• Everyone is subject to the rule of law and ideas of the Constitution 

• Ensure stability, trust,and  certainty in our elected officials to strengthen the relationship between the government and their people 

  • Ex: the Constitution (presidential election every 4 years and January 6, the election happens at the capital) 

  • Peaceful transfer of power

  • Free press

  • Inform the public to ensure the law is being maintained

Globalization of U.S. political culture

• Increased interconnection of people, business, and countries throughout the world 

• Economic ability to occur and communication lead to dependency on resources (like how less likely to have a war of China and U.S. because U.S. need China to build things for low prices and China needs us to sell things to the U.S. economy) – web dependency

• The world has become more interconnected because of technological advances

• Extended the core values (how people prioritize different views are different and how they demonstrate them are different) 

• Our core values/belief values have been influenced by different/other people (immigration)  / culture influenced by variety of things 

  • Ex: hamburger is from Germany

  • Salad bowl: distinct different things in the same bowl that you can distinguish 

  • Fundamentarly similar to U.K.

Political socialization

• The process by which individuals develop political beliefs, values, opinions, and behaviors 

• Also includes the formation and modification of opinions towards political, public policy, public figures, etc. 

  • Not stagnant, can change over time, continuing, and doesn’t stop 

• Ex: your political views change at some point in life

Political/party ideology

• A party’s beliefs on the government’s appropriate role and its stance on major issues

• It sets of positions on major issues 

• a set of beliefs and values that shapes an individual's or group's understanding of how society should work

Liberal ideological positions on economic policy

• Government should have an increase on regulation of the economy & business

• Order = Gun regulations

  • They want order in gun regulation policies since they believe that with unrestricted gun use, then people will abuse their right

Conservative ideological positions on economic policy

• Philosophy that there should be less regulations on businesses and few intervention from the government about the economy

• Liberty = free enterprise/less regulation

  • They want freedom in being able to make  a business with no to few regulations from the government since they do not trust the government but rather trust in the marketplace

Liberal ideological positions on social policy

• Philosophy that the government should have less control on social behavior

• Sexual/martial privacy

  • Liberals want sexual and marital privacy since they do not trust the “tyranny of the majority” and they want the government to protect the rights of the minority.

Conservative ideological positions on social policy

• Government should control more social behavior

• Order = Immigration regulations

• They want order in immigration policies because they believe that American values should be preserved

Public opinion

• is a person’s unique beliefs and attitudes, and the combination of their own preferences into a larger concept

• There are 2 pieces to this concept that are important, such as a person’s own attitude and the accumulation of individual attitudes

• get public support on their policies/be re-elected

• If representatives do not know or understand what the people desire, then they would not know how or what to represent us when making policies

Scientific polling

• A large number of citizens are randomly selected, and they answer questions to measure public opinion 

• They write questions carefully to make sure that the question doesn’t confuse people who answer it or lead most people to one particular answer, because it was worded badly

Opinion polls

• A survey that would measure the public opinion of the population, which would usually include 1,500 respondents 

• +/-3 points margin of error

  • Accuracy of 3% higher or lower of the number

Benchmark polls

A survey that is usually conducted at the start of a political campaign to see how much support each candidate has and to determine the kinds of issues that are significant to voters.

Tracking polls

• A survey that is used to determine the level or amount of support for a candidate or issue over the span of the campaign

• Concurrently w/poltical campaign

• Horse-racing

• Polling question has to be said (same question throughout time!!)

• Media has used tracking polls to make news about which canidate is currently winning or losing

  • Has been criticized since the media should instead be informing the stories of each candidate’s policies

Exit polls

• A survey that is given after an event or at a polling place after the person has already voted. 

• Individuals are questioned about who they voted for or what they voted for and why 

• If the exit poll shows sample voters that favor a particular candidate then announcing the results of the exit polls where polling places are still open could risk influencing the election

  • If one candidate is “winning” in the exit poll, it might turn other candidates’ supporters to not vote since they might believe that their votes don’t matter.

  • Now news networks have agreed not to release exit poll results.  When the state’s polling places have closed then they would release the exit poll results

• These polls are beneficial in understanding the patterns of voting

  • Ex: who usually goes to these polls, what are important issues to voters, who voted for a specific candidate, which groups of voters supported the canidates

Polling methodology

• methods used to conduct a scientific poll,

• use a diverse, large sample size (usually 1,500) to answer QS to understand public opinion of likely voters

• unbiased questions and in an unbiased order

Accurate sampling methods

• A random group of people gets more of a representative sample

• A sample is a group of individuals from a larger population that is used to measure public opinion

• A sample of 1,500 people typically has a margin of error of about ± 3%

• The sample's demographics should match the population's, including proportions for race, gender, income, and location.

• different ways to complete the poll

  • Ex, landline-only polls may miss younger people, and online polls can miss older or lower-income voters. 

Neutral framing of questions

• a technique used in public opinion polling and political communication to ask questions or present information without influencing the respondent's answer. This involves using unbiased, objective language, avoiding leading or emotionally charged words, and providing balanced response options.

  • ex: Do you support or oppose increased funding for the government program? NOT "Do you support the wasteful government program?”

• should not be written poorly to sway the people who answer the surveys to a certain way

• should not be biased in the poll / be straightfoward & understandable to people who answer the poll

accurate reporting

• the principle that media should be truthful, precise, and unbiased, which is essential for informed citizenry in a democracy

• includes margin of error & methology (such as sample size, framing of questions, answer choices, margin of error)

14th Amendment

• All individuals who are born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens of the U.S. and of the state which they live in

• No state can enforce any law that will violate the citizens' rights, such as life, liberty, or property, without due process

• They cannot deny any citizen their equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment

Citizens of the U.S. have the right to vote and cannot be denied their right to vote by the U.S. or by the state simply because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (such as slavery)

17th Amendment

• Before this amendment passed, senators were selected by state legislatures

• This amendment in the Constitution allows voters to directly vote for U.S. senators

19th Amendment

This amendment gives women the guaranteed ability to vote

24th Amendment

This amendment removes and prohibits the federal and state governments from enforcing voters to pay taxes during the federal elections

26th Amendment

This amendment lowers the minimum age to vote from the age 21 to the age of 18.

Demographic factors that influence voter turnout

• some state election/voting laws will increase voter turnout bc voting has become more accessible to a diverse number of people.

  • ex, students, minorities, and citizens who served in the military can vote since their IDs are accepted.

  • Connecticut, the minorities also receive language assistance, and they are not allowed to be discriminated

more ex:

• New Mexico enacted the major voting-rights package that will automatically register their citizens to vote when they use the state’s Motor Vehicle Division

  • They also permit voters to request absentee ballots for all future elections

    • They don’t have to continually reapply each year

  • Restored felon’s the right to vote who are on probation/parole

  • Permits Native Americans to vote and get ballots at offical trial buildings

    • Makes it more accessible for Native American officials to set up polling places on tribal land 

• Minnesota: Enacted law that establishes their citizens to be automatically registered to vote and a permanent absentee-voting list

  • Teens aged 16-17 can also preregister to vote

  • Another law reenfranchises felons who are on probation or parole

• Michigan: Michigan passed eight laws that implemented a constitutional amendment that would expand the rights that people have to vote

  • This act allows at least nine days of in-person early voting and counties can offer as many as 29 days of in-person early voting

  • This act also permits voters to correct mistakes on their absentee ballot envelopes and allows them to track their ballot status online

    • Allowed to use military, tribal, and student IDs as proof of identification

• Connecticut passed a state-level voting-rights act

  • Bans municipalities from discriminating against minorities from voting

  • They are obliged to give language assistance to certain language minority groups

  • Requires municipalities with a record of voter discrimination to get preclearance before they can alter their election laws

  • They can vote up to 14 days early

    • For the 2024 ballot, the legalized no-excuse absentee voting

Structural barriers influence on voter turnout

• decrease the voter turnout for the 2024 election at all levels of government because it will be inconvenient for people who want to vote.

more ex:

• Ohio: removed IDs that don’t have a photo from the list of acceptable voter IDs

  • They limited each county to only have one ballot drop box

  • removed early voting on the day before the election

  • They changed the deadline for applying to vote absentee by four days and reduced the period for accepting postmarked absentee ballots by six days after Election Day

• Mississippi adopted a law that forbids ballot harvesting

  • Forbids anyone but a family member, caregiver or mail carrier, household member from getting and delivering someone else’s absentee ballot

  • For Republicans who believe that “mules” stuffed ballot boxes to steal the 2020 election for President Biden (false belief)

• Florida: Adopted a wide-ranging bill 

  • Added restrictions on organizations that register voters (requires them to register with the state every election cycle,  turn in voter-registration applications they collect within 10 days not 14 days anymore, and attest that their employees are not felons)

• Idaho’s in state student IDs are no longer acceptable voter IDs.

• Indiana passed a new law that ensures that people who want to turn in an absentee ballot must give their proof of identity (ID, social security number)

  • Forbids anyone from requesting or mailing an absentee ballot form from someone who did not specifically request it

• Arkansas and North Dakota both passed new laws that prohibit ballot drop boxes

Rational choice voting

• This model of voting behavior is when citizens vote on issues according to their own indivudal beliefs or best interest…

• Might be a disadvantaged because it seems like looking out for themselves rather than for the public good 

• People want to achieve their goals

  • Ex: people seeing the policies they want enacted, Congress members want to be re-elected

  • Candidates want to maximize their shot at winning elections, and political parties will adopt policies that have the most votes/most popular.

Retrospective voting

• This model of voting behavior is when citizens reflect on a person in power’s past performance to see if they should vote on that person or someone else.

  • Ex: interest groups like the National Rifle Association and the Human Rights Campaign

    • They give scorecards to their members to assess the voting records of Congress members 

• Advantage is that citizens can see if person in power enacted policies that were favorable and that was a good representative of them and make a more informed choice

Prospective voting

• This model of voting behavior is when citizens vote for a candidate who promises to enact policies that the voter wants to be implemented in the future

  • Ex: Voters liked and voted for President Trump because he promised to “Make America Great Again.”

  • He gave a speech where he said that he would build a wall, and it would be inexpensive. 

• The disadvantage of the model is that candidates sometimes don’t keep their promises or change their minds

Straight ticket voting

An official ballot option that allows a voter to select all candidates of a single political party with one mark

• only voting for Democratic or Republican

  • If you want to save time, people can just vote for whoever their party is

  • Over time, an increase in Senate races going to have the same party in the executive branch (for president)

    • Ex: you vote for a Democratic senator, then most likely going to vote for Kamala Harris for president

Linkage institutions

• Primary ways in which political parties work to connect citizens with gov

• Associate with two main political parties that achieve the best policies for us

• Doesn’t mean that you will agree with every goal in the political party you are in (within one political party, there are a lot of factions)

• Different factions into one party to get policies achieved – Madison (Fed 10)

  • Not every faction is gonna get every single thing they want

    • examples: political parties, elections, campgains

Interest groups

• Organized groups of individuals that make policy-related appeals to the government.

• 2 main things interest groups do:

  • Shape polices by rallying voters by putting more direct pressure on elected officials.

  • Obtain information that they can provide to elected officials; some say that interest groups would then use the information to write bills for elected officials to pass into laws.

• Interest groups exert the most pressure on Congress (legislative branch) because interest groups want to write bills and make it certain that those bills can be passed

Free riders

• People can also benefit from interest group actions without joining or contributing to the group (such as not providing financial help)

• Ex: in the states with “right-to-work” laws, unionized companies have employees that have the right to not join the union.

  • If the union advocates for salary increase or benefits, all the employees will benefit, even the ones who did not join the union

Single issue groups

• A group of individuals that focuses on one specific area of public policy

• usually form because of an moral issue or topic that members are committed and passionate about 

• low chance of compromise because they believe they are right and the other side is wrong

• ex: Members who join the right-to-life organization believe that abortion is murder

  • Members of prochoice organizations believe that women can decide if they can get an abortion (their right)

Lobbying

• Interacting with government officials to help a group’s public policy goals progress.

• Interest groups spend a lot of money (2.2 billion dollars in 2024) for lobbying the federal government.

• Lobbyists must have a lot of knowledge about specific policy areas and access to those in government so that they can influence the legislative branch

• Interest groups use lobbying to shape policies in three branches: legislative lobbying would try to influence how laws are written in Congress, executive branch lobbying would be trying to influence how laws are implemented by the bureaucracy, and judicial lobbying focuses on how courts interpret laws.

Traditional news media

• (1830s) When the cost to make newspapers was reduced because of cheaper methods of printing, more readers

• Newspapers depended on giving an audience for advertisers, dramatic stories about riots, scandals, and crime

• ex: mass media (sources of information and entertainment such as newspapers, television, radio broadcasts, and internet content to reach large audiences)

  • The telegraph could send news to travel over distances that would’ve taken days or weeks.

Investigative journalism

• Journalists become like detectives and investigate stories 

• Usually searching for instances of wrongdoing rather than simply conveying the opinions and speeches of political leaders

• ex: Progressive era (about 1920), muckrakers used investigative journalism

  • exposed crimes/injustice to shape public opinion to support regulating businesses and decreasing corruption in government

Social media

• Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter

• allows politicians and citizens to spread news to be shared quickly and directly to a large number of people (share texts, images, vids, comments)

  • ex: Trump had millions of followers on Twitter. During 2022 midterm elections and 2024 presidential election, he would post on Twitter, where people could learn more about his policies, what kind of person he is, etc.

• Citizen journalism has increased but may be inaccurate. Get political information from both politicians and citizens.

• led to infotainment because more viewers and market shares increase when information is combined with entertainment.

  • ex: the news outlets focus on infotainment, which is also “soft news” that includes stories on celebrities and entertaining events rather than news about important events of local, national, or international political or economic significance.

  • political comedy shows such as The Daily Show may decrease the government’s support from the people by using cynicism on political issues.

  • Another criticism about infotainment is that soft news decreases people’s knowledge of public affairs, which is needed for more effective democratic governance.

• Increased access to new media and political communication outlets have increased the appearance of partisan bias in the media

  • Partisan bias is the slanting of political news in order to reinforce a specific political party or ideology.

  • The media may alter certain stories or be biased when presenting the information to encourage more readers, listeners, or viewers to believe in their bias.

  • Partisan bias helps increase and maintain the amount of views from people who share the same ideas which increases the company’s share of market and profits.

Horse-race journalism

• the media’s use of polling results leads to “horse-race” journalism by the media using that strategy to attract more viewers.

• media makes viewers focus on who is currently winning not the policies of the candidates, and the current popularity of each candidate (more entertaining)

• use “horse-race” journalism to expand their audience and most likely recieve more profit

New media

• can help people create, share, and recieve content

• People can share texts, sounds, videos through the internet at quick speeds and at large volumes

• Now, anyone can capture, report, and transmit news faster and cheaper 

• ex: 1990s, Internet was a way for people to get their news, so printed newspapers declined and traditional papers became digital

Political commentary

• radio programs used harsh criticism on people who had different viewpoints

• The programs are criticized for evoking anger, fear, and moral indignation by discussing overgeneralizations, sensationalisms, and misleading or inaccurate information, and by judging their political opposition

• ex: The Rush Limbaugh Show gave political commentary and their views on the other side (they were conservative)

Media Conglomerates

• Comcast, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, TimeWarner, CBS

• large companies that own many media outlets

• limit diverse perspectives and influence public opinion on politics and focus on making money/profit

• agenda-setting": companies decide which stories are important to be covered and how they are framed

Political parties

• Organized groups of people with similar political ideologies & policy goals

• Only 2 political parties because of how we run our elections 

  • If we had a different election system, we’d have more political parties that’d be successful

Party platform

Series of policies that canidate is gonna run the general election on

Campaigns

• candidate trying to win an election, involving fundraising, messaging, and public outreach to voters.

• poltical party/organization supports candidate by using media, events, and direct communication to get elected and communicate their policies and platform

Incumbency advantage phenomenon

• Holding a political office (elected member of a political office like the House of Representatives, House of Senate,the  President, local school board, etc.)

• You have a distinct advantage in the next campaign

• The president is running for the next election because they already have experience, policies they have already instituted, and already have supporters,  the media (news agency). When the president speaks, everyone will listen regardless of what he is saying. – command media attention

• Financial support (already built a war chest–distinct fundraising advantage)

  • Also to help candidates in the political parties 

• Name recognition such as knowing who President Biden and President Trump and Barak Obama, etc.

• Re-election is 80%, higher in Congress

Open and closed primaries (search up what it means)

• Open primary:

  • Primary in which any registered voter can vote in that primary (republican, independent, democratic) for their preferred presidential candidate.

  • They don’t happen that much more

  • The opposing party could vote for someone who might not win 

• Closed primary:

  • When you have to be a registered member of that political party in order to vote in that primay (you must be a registered Republican to vote) for their preferred presidential candidate.

Caucuses (search up what it is…/meaning)

• Informal public meeting of eligible votes to select number of delegates based on how many supporters they get from the state for the presidential candidate– (their names would be under the sign).  (organized in cities and small towns, very time consuming bc of ways in which conducted like 2-3 hrs) 

• Some states like Missuori, Utah, etc. (and both parties have caucuses)

  • Held in large spaces or high school gyms

• Republican Causues: if very simple (get their ballot and cast it)

• Democrat Causues: (go to the site and then its time for vote…move around the room and if there were 4 candidates, they need to get 15% support (viability) when everyone gathers in different corner of room. If one candidate doesn’t have enough 15% support then they can join another candidate that has enough 15% of support and persuade (everytime they vote, they need to get viability) – pursuasion

  • If did not get viability after they vote, they would go support someone else that has viability

  • If the two groups are tied, then they will flip a coin to get see how many delegates given

  • Every get 15% they get delegate then they will get to go to the county convention (more votes = more delegates)

    • State delegate equaviliants then is declared the winner of most votes 

  • The winner of that has to do it again at the county convention

Party conventions

• Summer of election year that concludes the nomination process of who are the presidential candidates from either party (Dem. vs Rep.)

• National primary: supposed to serve as a unifying the party and energizing the base and build the support for that singular candidate 

• Development of party platform 

  • Party platform: Series of policies that canidate is gonna run the general election on 

  • Rewrite every 4 years 

  • Vote on what the policies will be on and craft it that way

• Roll call: Each state has number of delegates to pledge their votes to the nominee 

Presidential election process

1. Before the Presidential Campaign Starts

• The presidential race is complex and involves winning 50 state elections under varying state laws.

• Candidates must build national support and resources long before the official race begins.

a. Fundraising & Gaining Party Support

• Before running, potential candidates start fundraising to test their support within the party.

• Fundraising shows how much party members and donors support them.

• Example: multiple Republican debates help test which candidates gain traction.

b. Exploratory Committee

• Candidates form an exploratory committee to test if they should run.

• They check public opinion, media coverage, and fundraising potential.

• This early stage is sometimes called the “invisible primary”—not an official election, but where a frontrunner starts to emerge (e.g. Trump gained attention this way).

c. Length of Campaigns

• U.S. presidential campaigns can last years (unlike the UK’s 6-week limit).

• Example: Donald Trump announced in 2022 for the 2024 race — 2 years of campaigning.

• Longer campaigns = more money needed for ads, travel, and staff.

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2. Factors Affecting the Election Process

Factor #1: Incumbency Advantage

• Holding office already gives a major advantage:

• Experience, name recognition, existing supporters, and fundraising networks (“war chest”).

• Media pays more attention to incumbents.

• Around 80% of incumbents get re-elected, even higher in Congress.

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3. Primaries & Caucuses (Selecting Party Nominees)

Delegates

• Delegates represent their state at the national party convention, where they officially vote for the nominee.

Each party sets its own delegate rules

• Democrats (2020): needed 1,991 out of 3,791 delegate votes.

• Republicans (2020): needed 1,276 out of 2,550 delegate votes.

• Winning enough delegates = becoming the party nominee.

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4. Presidential Primaries

• Primaries = state-level elections where voters cast ballots to choose delegates for their preferred candidate.

• Like playoffs before the general election.

• Once a candidate wins enough delegates, they secure the party nomination.

Types of Primaries

• Open Primary: any registered voter (regardless of party) can vote.

• Closed Primary: only registered party members can vote for their party’s candidate.

• Usually happen around the same time — often called Super Tuesday.

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5. Presidential Caucuses

• Caucus: informal public meeting where eligible voters discuss and vote for delegates.

• Held in schools, gyms, or public halls (time-consuming, 2–3 hours).

• Republican caucuses: simpler—voters fill out ballots

• Democratic caucuses: voters physically group by candidate.

• Candidates need at least 15% support (viability).

• Non-viable groups must join others or persuade members to switch.

• Ties can even be broken by coin toss!

• Winners move on to county and state conventions for more delegate votes.

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6. Frontloading & Sequential Primaries

• Frontloading: states move their primaries/caucuses earlier to gain more influence.

Sequential system: states vote one after another, starting with Iowa (first caucus) and New Hampshire (first primary).

• Early states have huge influence and attract media attention and donations.

• Iowa goes first due to tradition; New Hampshire by law.

• Criticism: both states are small and mostly white, not representative of the nation.

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7. Super Tuesday

• A major day when about one-third of all delegates are awarded.

• Many states hold primaries at once.

• Helps narrow the race and often determines the likely nominee.

• Advantage goes to candidates with strong funding and national name recognition.

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8. Party/National Conventions

• Held in the summer of the election year to formally announce the party’s nominee.

• Goal: unify the party and energize supporters.

• The party also votes on its platform — policies and goals for the general election.

• Each state’s delegates cast their roll call votes to confirm the nominee.

• The event gains major media coverage.

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9. General Election

• Lasts about 8 weeks, usually starting after Labor Day.

• The Democratic and Republican nominees campaign nationwide.

• Includes three televised presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate.

Focus is on battleground (swing) states, which can vote either way (e.g., Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania).

• “Safe” states almost always vote the same way (CA = Democratic, TX = Republican).

• “Winner-take-all” system in most states: the candidate who wins the most votes in a state gets all its electoral votes.

• October Surprise: last-minute news event that can change voter opinions.

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10. Electoral College (Final Step)

• There are 538 total electoral votes; 270 needed to win.

• Each state’s votes = its number of representatives + senators.

• When voters cast ballots, they are really choosing electors who pledge to vote for their candidate.

• Most states use winner-take-all, except Maine and Nebraska (which split votes by district).

Timeline

• Election Day (November): voters cast ballots.

• December: electors meet and cast official votes.

• January 6: Congress counts and certifies the votes.

• January 20: the new president is sworn in on Inauguration Day.

Criticisms of Electoral College

• A candidate can win the popular vote but lose the presidency.

• Gives more power to swing states and small states (since each has at least 3 votes).

• Example: winning large states like California or Texas provides a big advantage

Party coalitions

• They focus on targeting people who are in the middle (because a lot of people are identifying as Independent)

  • Ex: Have to convince people who left their party how their party changed and is better

• Groups of people to support specific ideaology goals

• Groups of voters who support the political parties and candidates, and over time they can change.

  • Parties change over time based on the changing of what is important

  • Changes from election to election

  • Groups can switch/ join another political parties 

• The party base is the foundation/core group of voters that people go and have their support

Third-party

• Third-party struggle to get plurality support

• Third parties are groups formed by the division of another organization

• Democratic voters split into two, which then form a third party

• Ex: Splitting the political party weakens the coalition for the Democrats and reduces the democratic majority and allowing for an easier win for Republicans 

• Ex. of third parties: Libertarian Freedom Party, American Independent Party (neo-facist)

• ex: George Wallace (1968), Ross Perot (1992), Ralph Nader (2000), Jill Stein

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)

Federal law/legislation regulates, oversees, and enforces campaign laws and rules, essentially to oversee the public financing system for presidential candidates   Called for more comprehensive and frequent reports of receipts and expenditures (candidates report how much money taking in and how much there were spending, like making campaign ads, etc.)  An extended disclosure system, making sure you report to the primary presidential  elections too Imposed limits on how much candidates could spend on broadcasting and other types of advertising  Placed limits on campaign contributions (per individual limit) On how much can be donated to  a specific campaign and PACs contributions to candidate PACs: Political action committees  PAC is separate from the candidate/campaign

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, 2002

• Designed to do was to clean up problems that came forward in 30 years of creation of 2000 presidential election that ended oddly and FECA

• Banned soft money contributions and increased restrictions on hard money contributions

• Prohibited corporations and unions from running attack ads against candidates within a certain time before an election

• Stand by your ad provision (when individuals make their ads and say that it was from them and they approved

  • Forced political candidates to associate themselves with their campaign ads when they ran for election 

  • makes people more accountable

• Act clearly defines electioneering communication (broadcast advertisement through radio/television, air within 30 days of primary or 60 days before general election that mentions or refers to a candidate and is aimed at 50,000 plus members of the elector 

  • Prohibited corporations/labor unions from creating political ads themselves / created contribution limits for connected PACs

Political Action Committees

• An organization that serves the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and or defeat candidates 

• PACs “cannot” specifically coordinate with a specific candidate legally however can play a huge role in financially supporting the candidate

• Candidate can make ads….and PACs can make ads to support the candidate but “cannot coordinate”

• PACs can donate directly to the campaigns/candidates & can be regulated

• Individual campaigns cannot take specific campaigns from unions or corporations. People in unions or corporations can donate via the PACs or the political party 

• Represent business (Microsoft has a Political Action Committee in support of political action) + ideological interest like NRA

• $10,000 per individual per election (from PAC to candidate)

• PACs can donate $15,000 to political parties 

• Individals can donate to PACs ($5,000)

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) (2010) -Scotus case

• Issue: if the BCRA (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002) law violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech if it puts limits on the ability of corporations and labor unions to spend their own money to advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate.

• facts: The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 law said that corporations and unions can’t spend their own money on campaigns, only through PACs (political action committees), which can then be donated directly to candidates to support or oppose them

  • Corps/union cannot pay directly for ads about a candidate within 30 days of the primary election or 60 days of a general election 

    • This section of the BCRA is the issue in Citizens v. Federal Election Commission

  • Citizens United (non-profit organization) made Hillary: the Movie which was a film that tried to persuade citizens to not vote for Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008

    • They wanted to make broadcast TV ads for the movie and show movies to subscribers on video-on-demand services 

  • The Federal Election Commission (FEC) and lower court found that the BCRA law applied – said that the movie was intended to persuade voters can the ad limitations of the BCRA applied

    • The organization were not allowed to air the direct appeal to voters when the election was very close and could influence voters

  • The Supreme Court would decide if the full feature-length film fell under the ad rules of the BCRA and if it violated the First Amendment right to engage in political speech

  • Buckley v. Valeo (1976): court decided that political contributions were a form of speech and that would affect the First Amendment rights 

    • Using money is a form of speech 

    • Independent expenditure – cut out the middle person and just articulate what they want

• Holding of case: the Court ruled that the First Amendment bans limits on corporate funding of independent broadcasts in candidate elections. 

  • Violated the First Amendment if they put limits on corporate funding

• Majority opinion/reasoning: The two important points were that the Court interpreted that the First Amendment protects corporations and that political speech is essential in democracy and corporations have that right.

  • The government’s reason to limit corporate spending was to prevent corruption, but it was not persuasive enough to regulate political speech. Corporations that do not coordinate with the candidate’s campaign can spend money without limits by BCRA to support or oppose candidates.

  • Corporations most likely need to follow the BCRA’s requirement for disclosing who is responsible for the ad and if it is allowed by the candidate since the Court did not strike those parts down of the BCRA.

Connected PACs

• Formed by corporations, labor unions, and trade groups

• Funded separately from organization's treasury through donations from members;must register w/FEC and disclose donors

• Microsoft created a PAC but only invited individual members of Microsoft employees to put into the PAC but can’t tell Microsoft treasury to put into there

• Strict donation limits

• Coca-Cola company non partisan committee for Good Government

  • KochPAC

Nonconnected PAC

• No sponsoring (connected) organization; often form around a single issue

• Can collect from general public: must register w/FEC and disclose donors

• Strict donation limits 

• National Rifle Association / Emily’s List 

• Formed by individual (not corporate) – can spend money on politics/things other than politics (I can spend the money for advertising, and need to do independently and make ads for canidates…can’t ask them though)

• Disclaimers at the bottom of ass (Robert Kennedy Jr – American Values)

Leadership PAC

• Nonconnected that is started by current or former elected officials 

• Can collect money from anyone; cannot coordinate w/canidate or use for their own campaigns 

• Strict donation limits

• Ex: Senate Leadership Fund, Eye of the Tiger PAC 

• Senate Leadership Fund (Mitch McConnel)

• Save America (Donald Trump)

Campaign finance

• funding that political candidates and parties use to promote their election campaigns.

  • how they spend/raise money

• PACs get money to donate to candidates (usually 5k)

• Hard money = direct donations to candiate’s campaign + strict donation limit

• Soft money = Donations to political parties instead of specific campaigns (ex: democratic or rep.) + no limits on its use

• dark money: don’t know where source of $ comes from

• huge influence on who can run/win elections

Federal Election Commission (FECF )

• Independent agency

• Members appointed by the president 

• Created in 1994

• Made up of 6 members (3 from each political party)

• Political parties vote together, so nothing gets done because it’s always 3 three-person tie

• They receive the disclosure reports from candidates and enforce federal campaign rules

Political Efficacy

• An indivudal’s belief that they can make a useful poltical change

• If people have more intellectual resources and skills, such as from higher levels of education, then that person’s political efficacy usually increases 

why is understanding public opinion essential to a functioning, representative democracy?

If representatives don’t know/understand what the people desire, then they would not know how or what to represent us when making policie

midterm election 

Midterm election meaning: Happen every 4 years, halfway through the president’s term.

• Purpose: elect members of Congress (and other state/local officials).

• Called “midterm” because they occur in the middle of a presidential term.

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2. Offices Up for Election

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives

• House members serve 2-year terms, so their seats are always up during midterms.

• About 1/3 of the Senate (33–34 seats)

  • Senators serve 6-year terms, so only part of the Senate is up for re-election at a time.

State and Local Elections

• Many states elect governors, state legislators, mayors, or vote on ballot measures (laws or amendments proposed by voters).

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3. Primary Elections (Before the Midterms)

• Each party holds primaries earlier in the year to choose their candidates.

• Process is similar to presidential primaries — open or closed, depending on the state.

• Winners of these primaries represent their party in the general midterm election.

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4. General Election (Midterm Election Day)

• Held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (same rule as presidential elections).

Voters choose among the party nominees for each office:

• House seats (every district in all 50 states)

• Senate seats (in the 33–34 states with Senate races)

• State and local offices

• Some states also include referendums or ballot propositions to vote directly on specific issues (e.g., abortion laws, marijuana legalization).

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5. Election Results

• The party that wins the majority in the House (218+ seats) or the Senate (51+ seats) gains control of that chamber.

• This determines which party leads Congress and how easily the president can pass laws.

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6. Why Midterms Matter

• Checks presidential power: If the president’s party loses control of Congress, it becomes harder to pass their agenda.

• Voter feedback: Often seen as a “report card” on the president’s performance halfway through their term.

• Local impact: State and local offices and laws directly affect everyday life (education, taxes, health policy, etc.).

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7. Typical Patterns

• Lower voter turnout (usually 35–45%) compared to presidential elections (around 60%).

• The president’s party usually loses seats in Congress during midterms (historical trend).

Economic interest groups

• They represent the financial interests of their members on their behalf

• largest category of interest groups

• large donors to political campaigns

• ex: Business groups advocate and support policies that favor firms or corporate interests *tax reform, removing some of the rights of labor unions, etc.)

public interest group

• They advocate on behalf of a broad group of indivudal people (not just for their members) 

  • focus on educatingt he public and government officials

  ex:

  • Civil liberties

  • Civil rights

  • Education

  • Enviornment

  • Social welfare

gov interest group

• advocate on behalf of state, regional, local and, foreign governments

• ex: can represent local and state governments that are concerned about laws or regulations that impact their regions

  • state government interest groups focus on getting grant money from the federal government 

collective good & action 

• public benefits like clean air, local fireworks show, and strong national defense

• People can receive the benefits of the interest group without contributing or helping out

• No incentive to join the interest group

selective benefits

• Benefits that are only given to those who actually join and contribute/support the interest group

  • ex: discounts on services or products, access to group publications and info, special offers, opportunities to travel, etc., only for members

• Ex: AARP gives travel benefits and discounts for members

• Professional associations may give members credentials required for them to work in their career

  • ex: trade unions advocate for their members to get higher wages and better benefits