ap gov unit 1 (understanding my political ideology)

liberal

• yes to gov intervention

• personal rights

• gov regulation in economy

• change laws for justice

conservative

• no to gov intervention

• self reliance

• no gov regulation in economy

• no change to laws

political spectrum

left (liberals/progressives)

right (conservatives)

libertarian

government stay out (right) BUT social justice (left)

socialism

gov controls economy and resources

centrist

moderate political views

status quo

existing state of affairs, or historical state

radical vs reactionary

radical = liberals (rapid change, move to left)

reactionary = conservative (status quo, move to right)

public opinion poll

measures public opinion on issues

benchmark polls

creates baseline views of a candidate

tracking polls

follows how views of a candidate change during a campaign

exit polls

collecting data on why people voted the way they did

sampling techniques

methods used in public opinion polls to select a portion of the population to represent

sampling error

difference between results and true opinion of the population (±3%)

reliability

extent to which a poll produces stable and consistent results

wording bias

when a poll is phrased in a way to influence responses

census

official count of the population, every 10 years

minority majority

when the minority population exceeds that of the majority

reapportionment

redistributing seats in the house of reps based on the change in a state’s population

redistricting

redrawing the boundaries of state districts

gerrymandering

drawing district boundaries to give one political party an advantage over another

packing vs cracking

packing: concentrating other party into ONE district

cracking: splitting other party across several districts (one party will always have majority)

baker v carr

tennesse claimed that state boundaries had not been drawn in 30 years, supreme court ruled that they can control legislative redistricting

shaw vs reno

districts cannot be drawn based on race

scarcity

resources are limited, human wants are unlimited

opportunity cost

value of the next best alternative that must be given up when a choice is made

(ex. gov spends money on freeways, less spending on schools)