Unit #5 Vocabulary Terms

Political Action Committee

an organization that raises and spends money to support or oppose political candidates or issues; No limits on support not directly linked to candidate – referred to as independent expenditures

Linkage Institution

channels that connect individuals with government (elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media)

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

allows those eighteen years old and older to vote

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

prohibits Congress and the states from imposing poll taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections

Party-line Voting

voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot

Electoral College

Voters do not cast ballots directly for the president; Voting for a slate of electors pledged to vote for a nominee

Winner-Take-All System

Candidate that receives the most votes at the state level wins all of the electoral votes for that state

Battleground State

a state where the polls show a close contest between the Republican and Democratic candidate in a presidential election

Swing State

a state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans

Super PAC

An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign

Straight Ticket Voting

Voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party

Split Ticket Voting

Voting for candidates from different political parties in the same election

Party Platform

a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to

Nomination

the formal process through which parties choose their candidates for office

Delegate

a person who acts as the voters’ representative at a convention to select the party's nominee

Primary Election

an election in which a state's voters choose delegates who support a presidential candidate for nomination or an election by a plurality vote to select a party’s nominee for a seat in Congress

Open Primary

all eligible voters may vote, regardless of their party affiliation

Closed Primary

only those who have registered as a member of a political party may vote; meant to encourage increase in party identification

Caucus

A process through which a state’s eligible voters meet to select delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process; another method of selecting nominees

Superdelegate

a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the state’s primary or caucus

Two Party System

a system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections

Proportional Representation System

an electoral system for a legislature in which citizens vote for parties, rather than individuals, and parties are represented in the legislature according to the percentage of the vote they receive

Single Member Plurality System

Voting system where the candidate with the most votes wins, even if they don't have a majority; Electoral system that assigns one seat in a legislative body to represent citizens who live in a defined area (a district) based on which candidate wins the most votes.

Third Party

A minor political party in competition with the two major parties

Interest Groups

voluntary associations of people who come together with the goal of getting the policies that they favor enacted

Economic Interests Groups

advocate on behalf of the financial interests of their members

Public Interest Groups

act on behalf of the collective interests of a broad group of individuals

Single Issue Groups

associations focusing on one specific area of public policy, often a moral issue about which they are unwilling to compromise

Government Interest Groups

organizations acting on behalf of local, state, or foreign governments

Lobbying

Interacting with government officials to advance a group’s public policy goals

Iron Triangle

the coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals

Issue Network

the webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates

Grassroots Lobbying

mobilizing interest group members to pressure their representatives by contacting them directly through phone calls, email, and social media

News Media

a broad term that includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social media postings that cover important events

Social Media

forms of electronic communication that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

Partisan Bias

the slanting of political news coverage in support of a particular party or ideology

Horse-Race Journalism

focus on the latest polls, emphasizing the drama of who is winning; coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on the drama of the campaign than on policy issues