Politcal Parties and Election Vocab - AP Gov

Attentive public

Those citizens who follow public affairs carefully.

Candidate appeal

How voters feel about a candidate’s background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities.

Caucus

A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.

Centralists

People who favor national action over action at the state and local levels.

Closed primary

Primary election in which only persons registered in the party holding the primary may vote.

Coattail effect

The boost that candidates may get in an election because of the popularity of candidates above them on the ballot, especially the president.

Conservatism

A belief that limited government insures order competitive markets and personal opportunity.

Cross-cutting cleavages

Divisions within society that cut across demographic categories to produce groups that are more heterogeneous or different.

Crossover voting

Voting by member of one party for a candidate of another party.

Dealignment

Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of independents.

Decentralists

People who favor state or local action rather than national action.

Democratic consensus

Widespread agreement on fundamental principles of democratic governance and the values that undergird them.

Demographics

The study of the characteristics of populations.

Direct primary

Election in which voters choose party nominees.

Divided government

Governance divided between the parties, especially when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.

Electoral college

Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president, in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for particular party’s candidates.

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one’s nation or ethnic group.

Fundamentalists

Conservative Christians who (as a group) have become more active in politics in the last two decades and were especially influential in the 2000 presidential election.

Gender gap

The difference between the political opinions or political behavior of men and of women.

General election

Elections in which voters elect officeholders.

Green party

A minor party dedicated to the environment, social justice, nonviolence, and the foreign policy of nonintervention.

Liberalism

A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity.

Libertarianism

An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government.

Libertarian party

A minor party that believes in extremely limited government and promotes a free market system.

Majority

The candidate or party that wins more than half the votes cast in an election.

Midterm election

Elections held midway between presidential elections.

Minor party

A small political party that rises and falls with charismatic candidates.

Name recognition

Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them.

National tide

The inclination to focus on national issues, rather than local issues, in an election campaign.

National party convention

A national meeting of delegates who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president.

Open primary

Primary election in which any voter, regardless of party, may vote.

Party convention

A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy.

Party identification

An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party.

Party registration

The act of declaring party affiliation, required by some states.

Plurality

Candidate or party with the most votes cast in an election, not necessarily more than half.

Political ideology

A consistent pattern of beliefs about political values and the role of government.

Political party

An organization that seeks political power by electing people to office.

Political predisposition

A characteristic of individuals that is predictive of political behavior.

Political socialization

The process by which we develop our political attitudes, values, and beliefs.

Presidential election

Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.

Primary election

Elections in which voters determine party nominees.

Proportional representation

An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

Prospective issue voting

Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future.

Public opinion

The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue.

Random sample

In this type of sample, every individual has unknown and random chance of being selected.

Realigning election

An election during periods of expanded suffrage that proves to be a turning point.

Recall

Procedure for submitting to popular vote the removal of officials from office.

Reform party

A minor party founded by Ross Perot focusing on government reform.

Reinforcing cleavages

Divisions within society that reinforce one another, making groups more homogenous.

Retrospective issue voting

Holding incumbents responsible for their records on issues.

Safe seat

Elected office that is predictably won by one party.

Single-member district

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative.

Socialism

An economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production.

Turnout

The proportion of the voting age public that votes.

Voter registration

System designed to reduce voter fraud by establishing eligibility to vote.

Winner-take-all system

Election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.