Government Test Ch 6 & 7

Coalition

- A cooperative government that forms a partnership among several victorious parties in a multiparty system; each party pursues its agendas, and they negotiate control, allowing each party to participate in the new government

Coattails

- the ability of a victorious presidential candidate to get same-party Congressional candidates put into office on the strength of people voting for their political party, riding the high of the win

Critical election

- an election that starts a period of realignment, in which a bunch of people vote differently from normal and stay that way for the next couple of elections

Dealignment

- the weakening of party affiliation; increase in people claiming independents(separate from a party)

Divided government

- different branches of the national government are dominated by different parties

Electorate

- the portion of the public eligible to vote in elections

Faction

- a group that, in its size, passion, or intensity, has a dream that, if realized, would threaten common liberty

Fair Deal

- Trumans domestic policy (goals for America) whose name was inspired by the New Deal to gain popularity

Great Society

- President Lyndon B. Johnsons programs that got the government involved in social problems, such as hunger and poverty; was the largest federal involvement in the 20th century

Gridlock

- legislative disagreement resulting in nothing getting done

Ideological party

- a third party that supports something not expressly supported by the main two parties; rarely actually elected

Interest aggregation

- groups that have disagreeing agendas, but agree on enough to put them in the same party, bringing them together

Issue voting

- choosing who to vote for based on the issues they are addressing

Majority

- Winning 51% or more of the votes

Multimember district

- districts that have multiple representatives; found in proportional representation systems

New deal

- President Franklin D. Roosevelts domestic policy that tried to save America from the Great Depression

New deal coalition

- the Democratic coalition that supported the New Deal; made up of urbanites, minorities, unions, liberals, and southerners

Party identification

- an individuals association with a political party, whether strong or weak, Democrat or Republican

Independent

- one who does not identify with a political party

Party in government

- the actual role the different parties play in government and their interactions with each other

Party in the electorate

- the actual role the different parties play among the general populous and their interactions with them

Party system

- a system of government with multiple parties that regularly compete over government

Patronage

- jobs, favors, and other resources (bribes) provided by party officials in exchange for political support and votes

Plurality

- winning the majority of the votes in an election

Political machines

- urban political parties that take patronage too far and trap people into voting for them to maintain power

Political party

- an organized group with similar political interests who elect officials to gain power in government

Political socialization

- how one obtains political knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs

Proportional representation

- an electoral system that splits representation based on the split of the votes; encourages participation of third parties, as it increases their actual votes

Realignment

- a shift from one party to another; a result of a lasting, long-term adjustment in the major groups that identify with parties

Reform party

- an unsuccessful organization built by Ross Perot that was meant to create a competitive third party

Responsible parties

- political parties where the member take clear positions on issues and vote as a unit

Single-issue parties

- third parties that form over one specific issue that the members feel is not adequately addressed; rarely win, but there are always a few around

Single-member district

- the structure in which each electoral district gets only one Congressional representative; the structure used in a winner-take-all electoral system

Splinter parties

- a third party that splits away from one of the main parties in protest; never lasts very long

Ticket splitting

- voting for candidates of different parties for different offices, rather than voting a party line; shows Americas growing independent tendencies

Party line

- voting for candidates for all the branches from the same party

Tyranny

- the government denying liberty from the people

Winner-take-all system

- the electoral system in which the candidate that receives the most votes gets credit for all the votes

Caucus

- a system of candidate selection where groups of party members gather in a series of meetings and debates to choose delegates for the national convention

Expectation

- how well a campaign needs to perform in the primaries to achieve the level of support the reporter has predicted it will receive

Faithless elector

- an Electoral College elector who does not vote for the plurality winner in their state, like they are meant to; rarely happens

Federal Election Campaign Act

- an act passed in 1974 that was meant to limit the influence of big-money contributions on political campaigns

Federal Election Commission (FEC

- the federal agency in charge of administering and enforcing campaign finance laws

Focus group

- a small group of voters from a specific demographic gathered by a political campaign to determine how they feel about the candidate; meant to help the candidate better market to the demographic

Free media

- news coverage of major high office candidates that are paid for by the press instead of the candidate; cannot be controlled by the candidate and is not guaranteed to be in their favor

Front-runner

- the presidential candidate expected to win the election based on their campaign

Hard money

- money given directly to candidates or national parties by individuals or PACS for their campaign; contributions are regulated by federal law

Long shot

- a presidential candidate who is expected to not do well in the election based on their campaign; the "underdog"

McCain-Feingold Act

- aka the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002; prohibited the use of soft money in federal elections; was trying to close the loophole in the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act

McGovern-Fraser Commission

- a commission created by the Democratic Party after the riots during their 1968 convention; meant to make the selection of delegates for the party conventions more open, egalitarian, and mass-based, preventing the elite from controlling the nominations

Media events

- activities staged by campaigns or officials that are meant to create good free media

Momentum

- the ability of a presidential campaign to maintain its support by meeting or exceeding expectations during the primary period

Name recognition

- an informal measure of the publics awareness of a politician, based on their ability to identify the politician

Nomination

- the official endorsement of a candidate by a political party to be the one to represent their party in the next general election

Paid media

- news coverage of major high office candidates that are paid for and produced by the candidate; often have broad or vague messages, trying to gather as much support as possible

Platform

- the "blueprint" for a partys presidential nominee that outlines their philosophies and policies

Plurality

- winning less than 50% of the votes in an election, but the most votes compared to the other parties

Political Action Committees (PACs)

- organizations formed by interest groups to contribute money to political candidates

Popular vote

- the tangible votes cast by individuals in a presidential election that goes toward the electors who are representing the candidate in the Electoral College

Primary

- the first round of an election where the party members vote for their nominee or delegates to the national convention

Soft money

- unregulated money donated to state and local parties or national parties for "party-building" purposes, not to a specific candidate