AP Gov AMSCO - Unit 4

political ideology

what we believe and why we believe it

political culture cornerstones

1. individualism

2. equal opportunity

3. free enterprise

4. rule of law

left to right

- communist

- socialist

- liberal (Democrat)

- moderate

- conservative (Republican)

- reactionary

- fascist

liberal

government's right is to protect the people's well-being; it is the government's duty to smooth out rough edges of capitalism

conservative

custom and tradition; keep existing social order, faith in private enterprise, and laissez-faire; government should interfere in moral issues

extremes

left = left authoritarian

right = more authoritarian

libertarian

lower taxes, fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and oppose government intervention

populist

Protestant, Christian values, socially conservative, and fiscally liberal

progressive

reformers who wanted to challenge government corruption

factors that influence voters

1. income and occupation (up = Republican, down = Democratic)

2. education (up = Republican/ down = Democratic)

3. gender and age (older = Republican/ younger = Democratic/ women = Democratic)

4. religion and ethnic background (Latina and African American = Democratic/ Catholics, Jews, and Protestants = Democratic)

5. geography (South = conservative/ North = liberal/ rural = Republican/ city = Democratic)

6. family (tend to vote the same way)

psychological factors

1. party identification

2. candidate and issue

3. time

globalization

the process of intermingling with other countries (exposed to new ideas)

public opinion

opinions prevalent among the general public

the "public"

1. elite (disproportionate amount of political resources)

2. attentives (actively pay attention to politics)

3. the masses (little interest in politics)

how do we measure public opinion?

by elections and polls

elections

initiatives (allow citizens to propose legislation and submit to popular vote) and referendums (allows legislatures to submit proposed legislation for popular approval); party positions on issues

straw polls

unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion

scientific polls

uses representative sampling methods

types of polls

benchmark, tracking, entrance/exit, focus groups (groups of citizens gathered to hold conversations about issues), telephone, in-person

method

- properly worded

- appropriately ordered

problems with polls

- only voters participate

- no sampling

- scientific polls have margin of error

uses of polls

inform public, candidates, and office-holders; make election night predictions

horse-race news

only says who is in lead, doesn't say why

push polls

questions deliberately phrase to give info to public; generally negative

public policies

formation and process by which government makes public decisions, guides present and future decisions, and what the government does or doesn't do about the problems that arises

influences on public policy

- federalism

- interest groups

- political parties

- elections

stages of policy making

1. problem recognition

2. agenda setting

3. policy formation

4. policy adoption

5. budgeting

6. policy implementation

7. policy evaluation

legislative branch policy making

- enact policy (Constitution outlines process)

- implement policy (money must be approved, policy networks important)

- interpret policy

judicial branch policy making

- enact policy (judicial review)

- implement policy (courts have no power to do this)

- interpret policy (case-by-case basis)

executive branch policy making

- enact policy (executive agreements, signs bills)

- implement policy (guides policy through making authorizations in annual budget, uses media exposure to gather support)

- interpret policy (bureaus and agencies must interpret how policy is carried out)

linkage institutions

1. interest groups

2. political parties

3. media

4. public opinion

5. elections

fiscal policy

government spending (borrowing) and taxes

Keynesian policy

government involvement

supply-side policy

laissez-faire until 20th century

monetary policy

aimed at money supply to get to unemployment, inflation, general economic growth; conservative favor this

social welfare and domestic policy

- welfare: entitlements (mandatory spending)

- Reaganomics

- health care: Medicare (old people) and Medicaid (poor people)

foreign and military policy

- the President (Donald Trump)

- the Secretary of State (Mike Pompao)

- the Secretary of Defense (Jim Mattis)

who makes foreign policy?

1. the President

2. the National Security Council

3. the CIA

military policy

- Department of Defense

- joint Chiefs of staff

FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)

electronic surveillance of suspected terrorism

USA PATRIOT Act

expanded authority of US law enforcement agencies for fighting terrorism

federal spending

entitlement programs, interest on debt, and debt

where does Federal funding come from?

taxes