Studied by 3 peoplePublic opinion
How people think or feel about particular things
Poll
A survey of public opinion
Random sample
Method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected
Sampling error
The difference between the results of random samples taken at the same time
Exit polls
Polls based on interviews conducted on election day with randomly selected voters
Question wording
The way in which survey questions are phrased, which influences how respondents answer them
Political socialization
Process by which background traits influence one’s political views
Impressionable years hypothesis
Argument that political experiences during the late teens and early 20s powerfully shape attitudes for the rest of the life cycle.
Gender gap
Political views differing between men and women
Partisanship
Which party someone considers themselves, either a Democrat, Republican, or Independent
Party sorting
Aligning oneself to a certain party based on issue positions. Democrats take liberal positions and Republicans take conservative positions
Political ideology
Set of beliefs about what policies government should pursue
Political elites
People who disproportionately hold political power
Heuristics
Informational shortcuts voters use to make a decision
census
An official count of the population. The Constitution requires the government conduct one every ten years.
stratified sampling
A method of sampling from a population in which subpopulations of a population are sampled independently
straw poll
An informal survey of opinion done within a small group of people
tracking poll
Continuous surveys that allow a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support
political ideology
A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events
minority majority
When there is no group that makes up over half of a population, it is the group that makes up the largest percentile of a population
Note 
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