Govt exam 2

What are the factors that influence political opinion formation

The family, the mass media, school and peers (religion, race, gender, region), the impact of events

How to make a reliable period poll

proper question wording and sequencing (pay attention to the question wording and don’t ask leading questions, pay attention to question sequencing like one question may set up the answer to the next question, ask a presidential approval question at the beginning), an accurate sample (sometimes people with not strong opinions wont participate), how respondents are contacted (phone calling people may not trust it and wont pick up the phone, Internet old and poor people may not have access, mailing people have multiple emails or may not check their mailbox), face to face best option (location, day of the week, and time of day matter)

types of polls

tracking polls (continuous surveys which will chart its rise and fall in popularity), exit polls (conducted at random polling places on election day), deliberative polls (large scientific sample of Americans in intensive briefings, discussions, and presentations about the issue clusters)

James Madison in Federalist #10 argued what

argued for the proliferation of interest groups so that no one group gets hegemony over other groups. But the argument can be made that only a small number of them have a significant influence over the government

Direct vs Indirect techniques for Interest Groups

Direct techniques is lobbying ( private meetings, testifying before the US congress, Drafting legislation, Social Occasions, Providing Political Info, Supplying Nomination suggestions for presidents and governors), Indirect techniques is generating public pressure, crating public pressure online, on TV, radio, and newspaper ads that make the public aware of a given issue, ask voters to contact their local elected officials if they are unhappy about an issue, and building alliances with othe rgroups

Largest interest group in US?

AARP

what makes a successful interest group

leaders, funding, members

closed primaries

Doesn’t allow outside party supporters to participate in the primary for that party. Each voter has to declare their party identification and then they can vote for the primary of their party. They choose who will represent their party in the general election

open primaries

you don’t have to declare party allegiance. You can decide at the polling place which party you support. Only person who knows which primary you voted in is yourself. Texas has an open primary. In Texas you do have to tell the people at the voting booth which party you support so you can go to the according booth but you can still choose at the voting booth.

runoff primaries

texas also has run offs. In a state without a runoff if you get the pluraity or the majority you are the parties nominee. In runoff if you get the majority, (50%+1) you get the vote, if no candidate gets the true majority you get the top two vote getters and they get a run offs election and then whoever wins that becomes the parties nominee.

blanket primaries

no longer exist bc they are unconstitutional. You can vote either party in an office by office basis.

jungle primaries

they list every single candidate on the ballot and if someone gets a majority (50+1) then they become the office holder. If no one gets majority ten there will be a runoff election. Sometimes not considered a primary bc its more like a general election if there is a majority winner. In Houston for mayor of Houston

initiative vs referenda vs recall elections

initiatives allow citizens to propose legislation and submit it to popular vote, referend is when legislature submits a proposal for popular approval, and recall elections allow citizens to remove someone from office

primary vs caucus

primaries allow for early voting, voting places are open for long time, votes are secret, voters aren’t as informed, and dont require a lot of time. A caucus will have the opposite of these things

the texas two step

for the 2012 election in Texas Democrats held a primary and caucus when voting.

minimum number of electoral votes needed for a presidential candidate to win an election

270

how are the number of electoral votes determined

number of house of representatives+senators for state (ex. Texas has 38 members in House of Representative and 2 senators, so they have 40 electoral votes in 2020)

faithless elector

Barbara Lett-Simmons did not cast her electoral vote in the 2000 presidential election as protest to Washington DC not being a state. voting against their pledged candidate

electoral college reform

abolish the electoral college, keep the college and abolish the electors ( no faithless electors all the votes for will go to whoever won the state), congressional district plan ( each congressional district vote will translate to one electoral vote and whoever gets the most electoral votes gets 2 additional votes), blend the popular vote and electoral college (all of the electoral votes go to whoever wins the state)

reelection rates for incumbents?

90% incumbents are people who are currently holding office and are seeking reelection

what was the decision of the bush vs gore 2000 election

Bush won bc in florida he won the popular vote by 537 votes then gore was like recount it but then there were issues with the recount so then the supreme court was like its gonna take too long Bush won florida and so he won the popular vote of Florida and consequently the electoral votes over all (271 vs 266)

important states in 2020 election

Michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania were the states that Clinton lost in 2016 that were very demcratic but then voted trump, they flipped back for biden. Arizona biden won for 0.4% and Georgia won by 0.2%

Who voted democrat in 2020

Women, all minorities, 18-44 yr olds, college graduates, income under 100 k, Catholics, first year voters, cities, want US to control the corona, democrats and independents

Who voted republican in 2020

men, whote, 45+ yr old, more than 100k income, protestants, small city, republicans

what president people submit their questions in writing

herbert hoover

most influential newspapers today

NYT, washington post, chicago tribune, los angeles times, wall street journal, usa today, christain science monitor