AP Gov (Unit 4)

American attitudes towards government

• Individualism

• Free enterprise (can be interpreted as government not being able to involve itself in business, whether against or for them)

• Equality of opportunity

• Rule of law (government’s duty is to enforce it and protect the people) (the law applies to all)

• limited government

What are some examples of conflicting applications of American attitudes towards government?

• A government mandate requires that all schools have an English-learner program, which is equal opportunity but at the expense of limited government

political socialization

• How one’s social environment affects their ideology

• family, peers, religious organization, school, etc.

• demographics: age, race, marital status, occupation, education level, and more can also affect ideology

globalization

• Interconnected world economy

• USA’s increased interaction with a variety of different nations has led to share of values and political ideas

generational effects

• Shared experiences can cause an entire generation as a whole to lean one way

  • Great Depression could lead that generation to be more financially conservative or lean democratic due to FDR

Lifecycle effects

• Experiences throughout one’s life can affect ideology

• Student loan in youth can cause progressive lean, whereas higher income later in life can cause aversion to taxation and thus conservative lean

Period effects

• Major events that can alter the ideology of a population

• 9/11, Great Recession of 2008, Watergate, etc.

formative age

• ~18 - 24

• Early adulthood, when many people form long-lasting beliefs

• Political events can have a greater, longer-lasting impression during this period

political events and ideology

• External events that can change beliefs

• party alignment/re-alignment, trust in government, etc.

• Can be short or long term, depending on age (formative or not) or how deeply personal the effects are

sampling technique

The process by which pollsters select respondents to a survey or the sample population for a poll.

• a good sample is representative, includes as many different groups, ethnicities, religions, etc. as possible

sampling error

The predicted difference between the average opinion expressed by survey respondents and the average opinion in the population;

• also called the margin of error. As the sample size increases, the margin of error decreases.

Scientific polling

• Requires

  • random sample

  • large population (less margin of error)

  • Neutral and unbiased questioning

  • transparency with polling conduct above

benchmark polls

• conducted by a campaign as a race for office begins

• used to compare to later polls to measure progress

opinion polls

sampling small section of population to predict election results or to estimate public attitudes on issues

tracking polls

• measure opinion over time

entrance or exit polls

• polling voters as they leave/enter polls

mass survey

The most common type of survey; a way to measure public opinion by interviewing a large sample of the population.

focus group

• A small, demographically-diverse group of people assembled for an in-depth group discussion

• Used to gauge opinions of broader population

Name 5 polling errors

• improper sampling technique (not random or representative enough)

• biased questions

• small sample size (more margin of error)

• large margin of error (means results are not necessarily representative)

• lack of transparency (other researchers cannot verify polls)

Other ideologies in the USA (besides liberal and conservative)

• communitarians

  • needs of community over rights of individual, tend to be economically liberal but socially conservative

• Green Party

  • large government

  • nonviolence

  • social justice

  • environmentalism

• Libertarians

  • limited government in social, personal, and economic issues

• Nationalists

  • promote interests of the nation, typically superiority of the nation over others

policy mood

• public’s preferences for the issues over time

• events like economic crashes, demographic changes, etc.

position issue

issues that divide voters with little to no overlap

valence issues

issues that most voters are in agreement with, like elderly care

how does political ideology affect how government addresses policymaking?

• ideology can prevent government from addressing the most relevant issues (policy mood) due to them being position issues, or certain valence issues can be hindered due to different approaches to said issues

fiscal policy

government taxation and spending

• controlled by Congress

monetary policy

government control of money supply and interest rates

• controlled by Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve

• independent federal agency that determines monetary policy

• meant to stabilize the banking system and promoting economic growth

Keynesian Economics

• government spending/use of fiscal policy to stimulate economic growth

• unemployment benefits, job creation

• deficits can actually be good for the economy

  • lower taxes but with higher spending

• practiced by both liberals and conservatives to differing extents

• intervening more when economy is in trouble

Supply-side economics

• Conservative ideology

• tax cuts and deregulation to promote growth

• If investors, wealthy, and businesses have more money, they will give back to the economy and thus cause growth

  • “trickle-down”

• intervening less when economy is in trouble

contrast liberal/conservative/libertarian social policies

• Liberals favor social engineering (such as affirmative action) to achieve social justice, progressivism, etc.

• Conservatives favor social engineering to preserve traditional values (maintaining rather than innovating)

• Libertarians want no government regulation of social life whatsoever

  • Legalize all kinds of marriage

  • Legalize marijuana

  • etc.