AP Gov: Unit 4-5 Test

Public Opinion

The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues

Demography

The science of population changes

Census

An "actual enumeration" of the population, which the Constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years. This is a valuable tool for

understanding demographic changes.

Melting Pot

A term often used to characterize the United States, with its history of immigration and mixing of cultures, ideas, and people

Minority Majority

The situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which the non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the U.S. population and minority groups together will represent a majority

Political Culture

An overall set of values widely shared within a society

Reapportionment

The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census

Political Socialization

The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others.

Sample

A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

Random Sampling

The key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample

Sampling Error

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results

Random-Digit Dialing

A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

Exit Poll

Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision

Political Ideology

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

Gender Gap

The regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

Political Participation

All of the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common means of political participation in a democracy is voting; other means include protest and civil disobedience

Protest

A form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics

Civil Disobedience

A form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences

High-Tech Politics

A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology

Mass Media

Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication

Media Events

Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media is there

Press Conferences

Meetings of public officials with reporters

Investigative Journalism

The use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders

Print Media

Newspapers and magazines, as compared with electronic media

Electronic Media

Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media.

Narrowcasting

Media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on a particular interest and aimed at a particular audience, in contrast to broadcasting

Selective Exposure

The process through which people consciously choose to get the news from information sources that have viewpoints compatible with their own.

Chains

Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation's daily newspaper circulation

Beats

Specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House. Most top reporters work a particular beat, thereby becoming specialists in what goes on at that location

Trial Balloons

Intentional news leaks for the purpose of assessing the political reaction

Sound Bites

Short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. Typically, they are all that is shown from a politician's speech on the nightly television news.

Talking Head

A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera. Because such shots are visually unstimulating, the major networks rarely show politicians talking for very long

Policy Agenda

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the time

Policy Entrepreneurs

People who invest their political capital in an issue. According to John Kingdon, a policy entrepreneur could be in or out of government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations

Party Competition

The battle of the parties for control of public offices. Ups and downsides of the two major parties are one of the most important elements in American politics

Political Party

According to Antony Downs, a "team of men and women seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election".

Linkage Institutions

The channels through which poeple's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda. In the United States, linkage institutions include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

Rational Choice Theory

A popular theory in political science to explain the actions of voters as well as politicians. It assumes that individuals act in their own best interest, carefully weighing the costs and benefits of possible alternatives.

Party Image

The voter's perception of what the Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism

Party Identification

A citizen's self proclaimed preference for one party or the other.

Ticket Splitting

Voting with one party for one office and with another party for other offices. It has become the norm in American voting behavior

Party Machines

A type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements, such as patronage, to win votes and to govern

Patronage

One of the key inducements used by party machines. A job, promotion, or contract is one that is given for political reasons rather than for merit or competence alone.

Closed Primaries

Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty

Open Primaries

Elections to elect party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.

National Party Convention

The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party's platform

National Committee

One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions. This is composed of representatives from the states and territories

National Chairperson

The person responsible for the day-to-day activities of the party depends.

Critical Election

An electoral "earthquake" where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party. These are sometimes marked by a national crisis and may require more than one election to bring about a new party era.

Party Realignment

The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period.

New Deal Coalition

A coalition forged by the Democrats, who dominated American politics from the 1930s to the 1960s. Its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics and Jews, the poor, Southerners, African Americans, and intellectuals

Party Dealignment

The gradual disengagement of people from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification

Third Parties

Electoral contenders other than the two major parties, American third parties are not unusual but they rarely win elections

Winner-Take-All System

An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituencies.

Proportional Representation

An electoral system used throughout most of Europe that awards legislative seats to political parties in proportion to the number of votes won in an election

Coalition Government

When two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature. This form of government is common in the multiparty systems of Europe

Responsible Party Model

A view about how parties should work, held by some political scientists. According to the model parties should offer clear choices to the voters and once in office, should carry out their campaign promises.

Blue Dog Democrats

Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States

Nomination

The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money, and media attention

Campaign Strategy

The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign

National Party Convention

The supreme power within each of the parties. The convention meets every four years to nominate the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates and to write the party's platform

McGovern-Fraser Commission

A commission formed at the 1968 democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation

Superdelegates

National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the national party convention

Invisible Primary

The period before any voters are cast when candidates compete to win early support from the elite of the party and to create a positive first impression of their leadership skills.

Caucus

A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference

Presidential Primaries

Elections in which a state's voters go to the polls to express their preference for a party's nominee for president. Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way

Frontloading

The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention

Party Platform

A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. This is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chose in rough proportion to each candidate's strength. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs.

Direct Mail

A method of raising money for a political cause or candidate, in which information and requests for money are sent to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past

Campaign Contributions

Donations that are made directly to a candidate or party and that must be reported to the FEC. As of 2012, individuals were allowed to donate up to $2,500 per election to a candidate and up to $30,800 to a political party

Independent Expenditures

Expense on the behalf of a political message that are made by groups that are uncoordinated with candidate's campaign

Federal Election Campaign Act

1974 law for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission and provided for limits on and disclosure of campaign contributions.

Political Action Committees

Groups that raise money from individuals and then distribute it in the form of contributions to a candidate that the group supports. PACs must register with the FEC and report their donations and contributions to it. Individual contributions to a PAC are limited to $5,000/year and a PAC may give up to $5,000 to a candidate per election.

Federal Election Commission

A six-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. The administrators of this enforce campaign finance laws.

Soft Money

Political contributions earmarked for party building expenses at the grassroots level or for generic party advertising. For a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act.

527 Groups

Independent political groups that are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates. Section 527 of the tax code specifies that contributions to such groups must be reported to the IRS.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

A 2010 landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent political expenditures.

501(c) Groups

Are exempted from reporting their contributions and can receive unlimited contributions and can receive unlimited contributions. Section 501c of the tax code specifies that such groups cannot spend more than half their funds on political activities.

Super PACs

Independent expenditure-only PACs, they can accept donations of any size and endorse candidates. Their contributions and expenditures must be periodically reported to the FEC.

Selective Perception

The phenomenon that people's beliefs often guide what they pay the most attention to and how they interpret events

Suffrage

The legal right to vote in the United States, gradually extended to virtually all citizens over the age of 18

Political Efficacy

The belief that one's political participation really matters- that one's vote can actually make a difference

Civil Duty

The belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should vote

Voter Registration

A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register prior to voting

Motor Voter Act

A 1993 act that requires states to permit people to register to vote when they apply for a driver's license.

Mandate Theory of Elections

The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like this more than political scientists do

Policy Voting

Electoral choices that are made on the basis of the voters' policy preferences and where the candidates stand on policy issues

Electoral College

A unique American Institution created by the Constitution, providing for the selection of the president by electors chose by state parties. Although this vote usually reflects a popular majority, less popular states are overrepresented.

Battleground States

The key states that the presidential campaigns focus on because they are more likely to decide the outcome of the Electoral College vote.

Interest Groups

An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals.

Pluralism

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that many groups, each pressing for its preferred policies, compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace.

Elitism

A theory of government and politics contending that an upper-class elite will hold most of the power and thus in effect run the government.

Hyperpluralism

A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government, seeking to please them all, is thereby weakened

Iron Triangles

Subgovernments are composed of interest group leaders interested in a particular policy, the government agency in charge of administering that policy and the members of congressional committees and subcommittees handling that policy.

Potential Group

All the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest

Actual Group

People in potential groups that actually join a group.

Collective Good

Something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member.

Free-Rider Problem

For a group, the problem of people not joining because they can benefit from the group's activities without joining

Selective Benefits

Goods that a group restricts to those who are within the group.