AP Government & Politics Unit II Test

political culture

dominant set of beliefs, customs, traditions, and values that define the relationship between citizens and government

American core political values

individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, and limited government

individualism

the belief that individuals should be responsible for themselves and for the decisions they make
immigrants in particular had a strong sense of individualism as they believed they could carve out a new life in America on their own

equal opportunity

everybody should have the same opportunities to succeed
Americans also value political equality: everyone should be able to influence government
Americans do not support equality of outcome; they value hard work and innovation
often conflicts with individualism, free enterprise and limited government

free enterprise (laissez-faire)

an economic system in which government intrudes as little as possible
Americans like a free market economy with limited government, so they receive few social services, but pay fewer taxes compared to other nations

command and control economy

an economic system in which the government has a lot of control over the economy

mixed economy

economic decisions are left to consumers and businesses, but the government influences these decisions with taxes and regulation
The U.S' economy is a mixed economy

rule of law

no one, including government officials, is above the law
checks and balances (e.g impeachment) and the social contract (citizens give up freedoms to the government for protection) help establish rule of law

limited government

government has limited powers so it cannot take away the rights of the people
free and fair elections, checks and balances, and federalism help establish a limited government

need based assistance

policies that provide economic support to those in need financially
unlike other programs like Social Security and Medicare, it only supports specific people who qualify based on income
goes against individualism and free enterprise, but expands the creations of a safety net for those in need, another American value

political socialization

The experiences and factors that shape an individual's political values, attitudes and behaviors

political ideology

an individual's set of beliefs about government and politics

political identification

the degree to which an individual identifies with and supports a political party

factors of political socialization

peers, family, school, religious organizations, generational effect and life-cycle effect

family's influence on political socialization

biggest contributor to political socialization
people in the same family typically have the same political beliefs
parents give children their first exposure to politics through the news programs they watch and discussions they have

school's influence on political socialization

schools often require students to take government and politics related courses
allows for students of different backgrounds to share and discuss possible conflicting beliefs

religious organization's influence on political socialization

a church's or religion's position on a specific topic may influence the beliefs of its followers (e.g opposition to abortion and Catholics)

civic organization's influence on poltical socialization

gives citizens an opportunity to interact with government officials and learn about certain campaigns

generational effect

people from the same generation that have lived through the same historical events share similar beliefs

life-cycle effect

people at different stages in life have different beliefs about government (e.g college graduate vs. retirees)
young people tend to also vote less than their older counterparts

globalization

increasing interconnectedness of people, businesses, and countries throughout the world

multinational corporations

companies that make transport and market goods and services in two or more countries
influential and difficult for the U.S to control and regulate when overseas

intergovernmental organizations

organization made of numerous countries
countries pay a membership fee and sometimes give up some sovereignty for the benefit of being in the group (e.g EU)

nongovernmental organization

independent groups outside of the government that work towards a public cause

U.S and globalizaiton

U.S promotes more free trade
focus is on regional trade with Mexico and Canada (e.g USMCA)
globalization lowered prices for consumers
globalization created international competition for domestic producers
U.S and its allies are always looking to spread and assert their influence but it is halted by global forces beyond their control

globalization and democracy

globalization encourages democracy
harder for authoritarian states to operate without consequences (e.g North Korea)

negatives of globalization

outsourcing
erosion of of traditional cultures
potential to connect those who want to incite violence

outsourcing

when a multinational corporation moves its business to a place with cheaper labor costs or where production is more efficient
job loss for American employees in numerous industries

affirmative action

policy made to favor individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously

public opinion

sum of individual attitudes about government, policies, and issues

concerns about public opinion and polling

citizens may not be educated enough or have enough information to form good opinions or they may not have an opinion at all
some surveys or methods used to get an idea of public opinion may not always provide accurate information
officials are elected to lead not to just follow whatever the public wants

focus group

a small group of individuals assembled for conversation about specific issues
cannot 100% accurately represent the entire population due to small size

elections (public opinion)

can be used to gauge the support for a certain party or individual (e.g Midterm gauges support for Biden)
not everybody shows up to vote and generally only gauges opinion on a small set of issues

scientific polling

representative poll of randomly selected respondents with a statistically significant sample size (large enough sample size), using neutral language

sample

a small group of individuals taken from a population that are polled to make an assumption about the public opinion of the whole population

random selection

a method of choosing members for the sample so that everybody has an equal chance of being a part of the sample (it is random)
help to ensure that the sample is representative of the population
A sample that is not obtained randomly provides unreliable data (e.g straw polls and voluntary polls)

representative sample

a sample that reflects the demographics of the population

weighting

a procedure in which the survey is adjusted according to the demographics of the larger population

sampling error

the margin of error of a poll, a value that is added/subtracted to account for the difference in the projected and actual results of a poll (e.g a poll with a margin of error of 3% that says a candidate for an election has the support of 45% of the voters could actually have 42%-48% of the support of voters)

mass survey

a survey designed to measure the opinions of the population, usually consisting of 1500 responses

entrance survey

a poll conducted of people coming into an event

exit poll

a survey conducted outside a polling place in which individuals are asked who or what they just voted for and why

benchmark poll

a survey taken at the beginning of a political campaign in order to gauge support for a candidate and determine which issues are important to voters

tracking poll

a survey determining level of support for a candidate or an issue throughout a campaign

random digit dialing

the use of telephone number randomly generated by computers to select potential survey respondents

question order

the sequencing of questions in public opinion polls may influence the poll taker's response
(e.g a question about the importance of solving poverty followed by a question about support for welfare policies)

question wording

the wording of a question may influence the polltaker's response (e.g Do you support welfare policies that would benefit the 37.9 million impoverished people in America?)

interviewer's influence on responses

if there is an interviewer present when the respondent is taking the poll, the respondent may try to please the interviewer (e.g a teacher asks a student if they're satisfied with the level of education they are given)

voluntary response bias

when a poll is optional to take, people with a strong belief in the topic will be more likely to respond than those with moderate opinions (e.g a radio station that does a call in survey for who they support in election will primarily get responses from those who are hard line supporters of a specific candidate)

gender gap

the trend that women are more likely to vote for Democrats than men

trends in public opinion

there are many groups of people or "blocs" with similar traits that generally vote for one party
these traits could include, race, gender, income level, age and even geographical location

usage of polling results and public opinion

officials should use the data from polls to loosely measure Americans' viewpoints and support about government and policy but should also engage in focus groups and other means to gather an idea of the public opinion
whether or not officials vote accordingly with public opinion depends on whether the official views themselves as a delegate