Unit 4 Nominations, Campaigns, Elections, and The Voters Vocab

General Election

Elections in which voters elect officeholders.

Incumbents

Those already holding office. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win

Primary Election

Elections in which voters determine party nominees.

Presdential Election

Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.

Midterm Election

Elections held midway between presidential elections.

Off-year elections

Elections held in odd numbered calendar years.

Direct Primary

Election in which voters choose party nominations

Open Primary

Primary election in which any voter despite party can vote

Closed Primary

Primary elections in which only people registered in the party holding the primary can vote

Caucus

A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform

Delegates

A person designated to act for or represent another or others; deputy; representative, as in a political convention

Superdelegates

National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention

Nominations

The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money, and media attention

Campaign Strategy

The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign

McGovern-Fraser Comission

A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation

Crossover Voting

Voting by a member of one party for a candidate of another party.

Invisible Primary

Early attempts to raise money, line up campaign consultants, generate media attention, and get commitments for support even before candidates announce they are running

Frontloading

The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calender to capitalize on media attenion

Super Tuesday

Created by a dozen or so southern states when they held their presidential primaries in early March 1988. These states hoped to promote a regional advantage as well as a more conservative candidate.

Political Ideology

A consistent pattern of beliefs about political values and the role of government

Party Platform

A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs

Party Identification

An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire during childhood

Single-member district

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official

Candidate appeal

How voters feel about a candidates background, personality, leadership ability, and other qualities

Proportional Representation

Election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

Safe Seat

 Elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other, so the success of the party's candidate is almost taken for granted.

Direct Mail

A high-tech method of raising money for a political cause or candidate. It involves sending similar views or candidates in the past. information and requests for money at people whose names go near on the list of those who have supported

Campaign Contributions

 contribution, donation. a voluntary gift (as of money or service or ideas) made to some worthwhile cause.

Independent Expenditures

Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office

FEC

A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. It consists of six commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of campaign finance information and public funding of presidential elections, and enforcing contribution limits.

Hard Money

Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amounts and fully disclosed Raising such limited funds is harder than raising unlimited funds. hence the term hard

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Largely banned party soft money, restored a longstanding prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes, and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.

Soft Money

money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state or local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts

527 Groups

A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election in which a clearly identified candidate 18 referred to and a relevant electorate is targeted.

501 C Groups

One of 29 types of nonprofit organizations which are exempt from some federal income taxes. Many states refer to Section 501(C) for definitions of organizations exempt from state taxation as well. 501(c) organizations can receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and unions

PAC

The political arm of an interest group that is legally entitled to raise funds on a voluntary basis from members, stockholders, or employees to contribute funds to candidates or political parties.

Leadership PAC

A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties

Super PACs

An independent expenditure only committee first allowed in 2010 after court decisions allowing unlimited contributions to such PACs.

Selective Perception

The phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions

Political Effcacy

The citizens' faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs. It is commonly measured by surveys and is used as an indicator for the broader health of civil society.

Voter Registration

System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents, including proof of residency.

Civic Duty

The responsibilities of a citizen

Motor Voter Act

legislation allowing citizens to register to vote at the same time they apply for a driver's license or other state benefit

Mandate theory of elections

The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do. Electoral choices that are made on basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues

Electoral College

Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president, in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for a particular party's candidates.

Coattail Effect

The boost that candidates may get in an election because of the popularity of candidates above them on the ballot, especially the president.

Battleground States

"Perennial" swing states that have regularly seen close contests over the last few presidential campaigns. Election analytics website FiveThirtyEight identifies the states of Colorado, Florida, Towa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin

Candidate Appeal

 How voters feel about a candidate's background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities.

Name Recognition

Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them, and incumbents are more recognizable.

Issue Advocacy

Promoting a particular position or an issue paid for by interest groups or individuals but not candidates. Much issue advocacy is often electioneering for or against a candidate, and until 2004 had not been subject to any regulation.

Attentive Public

Citizens who follow public affairs carefully.

Public Opinion

The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue, candidate, or institution within a specific population.

Random Sample

In this type of sample, every individual has an unknown and random chance of being selected.

Margin of Error

Rate of error in a random sampling - usually +/- 3% for a sample of at least 1,500 individuals.

Turnout

The proportion of the voting age public that votes, sometimes defined as the number of registered voters that vote.

Prospective Issue Voting

Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected

Retrospective Issue Voting

Holding incumbents, usually the president's party, responsible for their records on issues, such as the economy or foreign policy.