Gov Unit 5

Linkage institutions

Channels connecting individuals with government, including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

Political efficacy

A person's belief in their ability to make effective political change.

Absentee ballot

Voting completed and submitted before the election day without going to the polls.

Plurality and Plurality elections

Candidate with the most votes is elected, as in the electoral college system.

Rational-choice voting

Voting based on what a citizen believes is in their best interest.

Retrospective voting

Voting based on a candidate's past performance assessment.

Prospective voting

Voting for a candidate promising future policies favored by the voter.

Party-line voting

Voting for candidates from a single political party for all offices.

Third parties

Minor political parties competing with the two major parties.

Realignment

Shift in support from one political party to another by groups of people.

Campaign Finance

Funds raised to promote candidates and political parties.

Political Action Committee (PAC)

Organization raising money to elect or defeat candidates.

Super PAC

Organization spending unlimited money on a campaign, not coordinated with a candidate.

Hard money

Limited donations to candidates, disclosed.

Soft money

Unlimited donations to candidates, undisclosed.

Federal Election Campaign Act

Regulates federal elections, candidates can receive subsidies.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold)

Bans soft money donations to national parties.

Citizens United v FEC

Corporations and unions have first amendment speech rights.

General election vs Primaries

Primaries select party nominees, general elections vote for national offices.

Nomination

Formal process where parties choose candidates for political office.

Delegate

Represents voters at a convention to select the party's nominee.

Swing state

State where support for parties is similar, swinging between Democratic and Republican.

Interest groups

Act on behalf of collective interests, lobbying for public policy goals.

Horse race journalism

Media coverage focusing on campaign drama over policy issues.

Againts electoral college

Undemocratic- doesn’t reflect majority may lower voter turn out- rep in a dem state

PAC v. Super PAC’s

PAC’s may donate directly. coordinate to a campaign with limits and cannot collect from unions and corporate treasury funds while super PACs may spend an unlimited amount on a campaign as long as it’s not coordinated with a campaign and may accept unlimited amounts from corporate treasury funds and non-foreign sources.

Political party fns.

Recruit, nominate, and support candidates for office, provide labels that voters can use as identification shortcuts to get closer to their political views (Dem/Rep).Enact policy positions and act as an opposition to the majority party when the minority.

Realignment

The shifting of party coalitions and party controls in a government from one to another. Critical elections signal a change in balance of power between two parties.

Third party Struggles

A lot of the time they focus on one issue and that’s not enough to get votes, they also generally have less funding and less media coverage which makes it difficult to compete. For example you need to pull at 15% to get on the debate stage and because third parties are so underrepresented they can’t even get enough votes to be heard by the whole public.

Factors of 2 party

Single member plurality system, where voters have a single vote for one candidate and the winner take all system, where the democratic party and republican party win almost every election.