AP Gov Ch. 6

public opinion

The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues

demography

the science of population changes

Census

An "actual enumeration" of the population, which the Constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years. It is a valuable tool for understanding the demographic changes

melting pot

A term often used to characterize the Unites States, with its history of immigration and mixing cultures, ideas, and peoples

Minority Majority

The situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which the non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the US population and minority groups together will represent a majority

political culture

an overall set of values widely shared within a society

reapportionment

the process of reallocating seats in the house of representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the Census

political socialization

The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on input from family, schools, the media, and others

sample

a relatively small portion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

random sampling

The key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample

sampling error

the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results

random-digit dialing

A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

exit poll

Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision

political ideology

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

gender gap

The regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services to oppose higher levels of military spending

political participation

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common means of this in a democracy is voting; other means include protest and civil disobedience

protest

A form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics

civil disobedience

A form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences