AP GOPO Chapter 15-17

Linkage Institutions

Are responsible for linking people with government, keeping them informed and trying to shape public opinion policy.

Robocalls

Pre-recorded phone messages delivered automatically to large numbers of people to remind people to vote for their candidates and to discourage voting for opposing candidates.

Platform

A written list of beliefs and political goals.

Republican Party

Supports a conservative doctrine.

Democratic Party

Supports a liberal doctrine.

National Convention

Gathering of party leaders, address party concerns and party goals, and candidates. Eventually chooses one platform.

War Chest

Funds candidates will spend on getting elected.

Social Media

Like Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Tumblr, Youtube, etc.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC)

Comprised of a hierarchy of  hundreds of employees and a complex  network dedicated  to furthering party goals. 

National Chairperson

The chief strategist and spokesperson, runs the party.

McGovern-Fraser Commission

Commission brought significant changes that ensured minorities wie, and younger voters’ representation at future convention s and as delegates voting to nominate their candidate. 

Superdelegates

High-ranking delegates not beholden to any state primary vote.

Party Realignment 

A change in underlying electoral forces due to changes in party identification.

Critical Elections

Contests that reveal sharp, lasting changes in loyalties to political parties.

Party Dealignment

When more citizens became independents turned away from politics altogether.

Minor parties or Third Parties

Parties not falling into the main two in the two party system.

Ideological Parties

Subscribe to a consistent ideology across multiple issues

Splinter Parties

Large factions of members break off from a major party.

Economic-Protest Parties

Parties formed to protest economic policies or incite economic change.

Single-Issues Parties

A party concerned with one issue.

Single-Member Districts

Candidate who wins the most votes, or a plurality in a field of candidates, wins that office.

Ballot Access

Independents struggle with ballot access because they don’t have the same power to help voters get to ballots like big parties do.

Winner-Take-All Voting

All states, excpet Maine and NEbraska, award all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the plurality of the popular vote. 

Swing States

States that could go either way in the election.

Pluralism

A multitude of views that ultimately results in a consensus on some issues.

Lobbying

Applying pressure to influence government.

Free-Rider Problem

Groups that push for a collective benefit for a large group inevitably have free riders. The problem limits the groups potential because not all those benefiting help pay the bill. 

Iron Triangles

The bonds between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group.

Direct Lobbying

Directly applying pressure to legislators to influence the government.

Lobbyists

People who apply pressure to legislators and government officials to influence the government.

501 (c) (3)

• Receive tax deductions for charitable donations and can influence government, but they cannot lobby government officials or donate to campaigns.

• Examples: Churches and certain hospitals

501 (c) (4)

• Groups can lobby and campaign, but they cant spend more than half their expenditures on political issues.

• Examples: Certain welfare organizations.

Endorsement

A public expression of support.

Grassroots Lobbying

When an interest group tries to inform, persuade, and mobilize large number of people.

Grasstops Campaigning

Rather than mobilizing large numbers of people, interest groups and their lobbyists will narrowly target opinion leaders and individuals who know and have connections with lawmakers.

Trade Associations

Interest Groups made of businesses within a specific industry.

Progressive Era Amendments

The 16th, 17th, and 19th Amendments.

Sixteenth Amendment (1913)

• Empowered congress to tax individual incomes

• Enhanced the national Treasury and encouraged groups to push for more services.

Seventeenth Amendment (1913)

• Empowered citizens to elect their US Senators directly, relaxing the old system in which state legislators and party caucuses picked the senators.

• Senators now had to consider the views of all voters, not just the elites.

Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

• Guaranteed women the right to vote, doubling the voting population.

• Civic-minded women drew attention to urban decay, child labor, alcoholism, and other humanitarian concerns.

Intergovernmental Lobby

Includes the National Governors Association, the National LEague of Cities, and the US Conference of Mayors, all of which have offices in the nations capital.

Professional Associations

Typically represent white-collar professions. Examples are American MEdical Association and the American Bar Association.

Think Tanks

Research institutions, often with specific ideological goals.

Purposive Incentives

Give the joiner of the interest group philosophical satisfaction.

Solidary Incentives

INterest groups offer people of a like mind places to gather on occasion.

Material Incentives

Interest groups offer things like travel discounts, subscriptions to magazines or newsletter, or complimentary options. 

Upper-Class Bias

Interest Groups tend to be comprised of people with advanced degrees.

Public Interest Groups

Interest groups geared toward improving life or government for the masses.

Single-Issues Groups

INterest groups focused on one topic.

Ideological Groups

Interest Groups formed around a political ideology.

Bundling

Raising large sums from multiple donors for a candidate.

Revolving Door

The movement from the job of legislator to aj ob within an industry affected by the laws or regulations.

Electorate

A large percentage of Americans that go to vote.

Franchise

Right to vote.

Suffrage 

Qualifications for voting.

Fifteenth Amendment

Gave African American Males the right to vote and was the first constitutional mandate affecting state voting requirements.

Poll Tax

A simple fee required to vote.

Grandfather Clause

Allowed states to recognize a registering voter as it would have recognized his grandfather. Allowed poor white people to vote without literacy test or poll taxes.

White Primary

Parties made it so only white people could vote by defining their membership as a “White Men’s Club.” THerefore discluding African American voters.

1957 Civil Rights Act 

Addressed discrimination in voter registration and established the US Office of Civil RIghts which was an enforcement agency of the Department of Justice. 

1964 Civil Rights Act

Also addressed voting.

24th Amendment (1962)

Outlawed poll taxes in federal elections.

Voting Rights Act (1965)

The most effective bill to bring the Black populace into the political process. Outlawed literacy tests and put states with low voter turnout under the eye of the Justice Department.

Preclearance

Put states under federal supervision if they attempted to invent new legal loopholes to diminish black suffrage.

23rd Amendment

Washington DC can appoint electors but no more than those of the smallest state. 

26th Amendment (1971)

Prevents states from denying citizens 18 and over the right to vote.

Rational-Choice Voting

Voter who has examined an issue or candidate, evaluated campaign promises or platform points, and consciously decided to vote in the way that seems to most benefit the voter. 

Retrospective Voting

Look backward to consider candidates’ track records.

Prospective Voting

Consider the future, and try to anticipate what the candidate might affect their lives. 

Party Identification

Easiest way to predict a voters habits. Self identification with a party.

Voting-Age Population

Everyone at or over the age of 18.

Voter Turnout

The number of voters who actually cast votes as a percentage of the voting-age population.

Voter Regristration

Enrollment in the electoral roll.

Wards

Counties, cities, and towns are divided into these for voting purposes.

Precincts

Wards are broken into precincts. A small geographic area of about 500-1000 voters who all vote at an assigned polling place.

Polling Place

Often a school or community center where people go to cast their vote.

National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993 or Motor Voter Law

Wanted to increase voter participation. Required states a chance to register at state-run agencies such as the BMV.

Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002

All states had to upgrade their voting systems to an electronic format. Funded replacements of punch card and lever systems. Also addressed voting for people with disabilities and made polling places more accessible.

Australian Ballot

1. The ballot must be printed and distributed at public expense.

2. Show all qualifying candidates’ names.

3. Be available only at the polling places

4. Be completed in private.

Provisional Ballots

A ballot used when there are discrepancies of some sort. Before being counted election officials verify that voting occurred in the right place based on the voter’s registration address.

Absentee Ballot

If a voter cannot make it to the polls they can send in an absentee ballot through the mail. Some states require a reason while most don’t.

Midterm Election

Federal elections that occur midway through a presidents term.

Voter Apathy

A lack of concern for the election outcome.

Political Efficacy

The sense that their vote makes a difference.

Voting Blocs

Groups of people that share a defining trait, like being a woman, and how they will most likely vote.

Gender Gap

The difference in political beliefs between men and women. Women often vote more Democrat while men often vote more Republican, generally.