PLS Exam 3

Bimodal Distribution

A distribution (of opinions) that shows two responses being chosen about as frequently as each other

Civic Education

School curricula that aim to prepare students for meaningful engagement with democratic processes

Issue Framing

The way that politicians or interest group leaders define an issue when presenting it to others

Normal Distribution

A symmetrical bell-shaped distribution (of opinions) centered on a single mode or most frequent response

Operational Ideology

The ideological label that appropriately describes one's policy positions

Opinion Polling

Interviewing a sample of citizens to estimate public opinion as a whole

Political Socialization

The complex process by which people acquire their political values

Public Opinion

The collective attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question

Random Sample

A sample where every individual of the population in question has the same chance of being selected to participate in a survey

Self-Interest Principle

The implication that people choose what benefits them personally

Skewed Distribution

An asymmetrical but generally bell-shaped distribution (of opinions) whose mode or most frequent response lies off to one side

Socioeconomic Status

Position in society based on a combination of education occupational status and income

Sociotropic Responses

Opinions about how the country as a whole is doing affect political preferences more strongly than one's own personal circumstance

Stable Distribution

A distribution (of opinions) that shows little change over time

Symbolic Ideology

The ideological label that people use to describe themselves

Transmission Model

The theory that parents transmit their partisan identification to their children

Class action suit

A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances

Conventional participation

Relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture

Direct action

Unconventional participation that involves assembling crowds to confront businesses and local governments to demand a hearing

Direct primary

A preliminary election run by the state government in which the voters choose each party's candidates for the general election

Franchise

The right to vote also called suffrage

Influencing behavior

Behavior that seeks to modify or reverse government policy to serve political interests

Initiative

A procedure by which voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a referendum It requires gathering a specified number of signatures and submitting a petition to a designated agency

Political participation

Actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics

Progressivism

A philosophy of political reform based on the goodness and wisdom of the individual citizen as opposed to special interests and political institutions

Recall

The process for removing an elected official from office Eighteen states allow recall

Referendum

An election on a policy issue

Standard socioeconomic model

A relationship between socioeconomic status and conventional political involvement people with higher status and more education are more likely to participate than those with lower status

Suffrage

The right to vote also called the franchise

Supportive behavior

Action that expresses allegiance to government and country

Terrorism

Premeditated politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents

Unconventional participation

Relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms

Voter turnout

The percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in a given election

Caucus/convention

A method used to select delegates to attend a party's national convention Generally a local meeting selects delegates for a county-level meeting which in turn selects delegates for a higher-level meeting the process culminates in a state convention that actually selects the national convention delegates

Closed primaries

Primary elections in which voters must declare their party affiliation before they are given the primary ballot containing that party's potential nominees

Election campaign

An organized effort to persuade voters to choose one candidate over others competing for the same office

Federal Election Commission (FEC)

A bipartisan federal agency of six members that oversees the financing of national election campaigns

First-past-the-post election

A British term for elections conducted in single-member districts that award victory to the candidate with the most votes

Front-loading

States' practice of moving delegate selection primaries and caucuses earlier in the calendar year to gain media and candidate attention

General election

A national election held by law in November of every even-numbered year

Modified closed primaries

Primary elections that allow individual state parties to decide whether they permit independents to vote in their primaries and if so for which offices

Modified open primaries

Primary elections that entitle independent voters to vote in a party's primary

Open election

An election that lacks an incumbent

Open primaries

Primary elections in which voters need not declare a party affiliation and can choose one party's primary ballot to take into the voting booth

Political action committees (PACs)

An organization that collects campaign contributions from group members and donates them to candidates for political office

Presidential primary

A special primary election used to select delegates to attend the party's national convention which in turn nominates the presidential candidate

Primary election

A preliminary election conducted within a political party to select candidates who will run for public office in a subsequent election

Split ticket

Voting for candidates from different parties for different offices

Straight ticket

Voting for a single party's candidates for all the offices

Agenda Building

The process by which new issues are brought into the political limelight

Citizen Group

Lobbying organization built around policy concerns unrelated to members' vocational interests

Coalition Building

The banding together of several interest groups for the purpose of lobbying

Direct Lobbying

Attempts to influence a policymaker through personal contact with that individual

Free-Rider Problem

The situation in which people benefit from the activities of an organization (such as an interest group) but do not contribute to those activities

Grassroots Lobbying

Lobbying activities performed by rank-and-file interest group members and other supporters

Information Campaign

An organized effort to gain public backing by bringing a group's views to public attention

Interest Group Entrepreneur

An interest group organizer or leader

Lobbyist

A representative of an interest group

Program Monitoring

Keeping track of government programs usually done by interest groups

Trade Association

An organization that represents firms within a particular industr

characteristics frequently associated with non voters include what:

low education, low income, and being relatively young

which is a preliminary election run by state governments in which the voters choose the party’s candidates for the general election

direct primary

which amendment lowered the voting age to 18

the 26th

what is the 18th amendment

prohibition of alchol

what is the 22nd amendment

limits the presidency to two terms

in 1965, which of the following laws was passed by congress that effectively ended strategies that had discriminated against african americans at the polls

voting rights act

which of the amendments to the constitution prohibits states from denying the right to vote on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

the 15th amendment

what is the 10th amendment

If the Constitution does not give a specific job to the national government, that job belongs to the individual states or to the people.

what is the 14th amendment

anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a full citizen, and states must treat everyone fairly and equally under the law.

what is the 13th amendment

abolished slavery

what was a qualification for voting that was eliminated in all states by the