Unit 4/5

Polling

Record the opinion or vote of

Entrance and Exit polls

Use that election site to get information about potential outcomes of elections

Benchmark Polls

Use at the beginning of a campaign season to get information about what people care about

Tracking Polls

Use over the course of a campaign to see how opinions change and support for a candidate changes

Issues with polling- Sampling Error

Population is large enough, representative of population

Framing of Question

Asking questions That lend themselves to certain answers, Takes away authenticity of responses

Margin for error

We expect some error as long as it’s marginal

Issues with voting – voter apathy

People believing that the outcome of elections doesn’t matter

Voter efficacy

People believing that their votes don’t really matter

Voter turnout

People don’t show up to vote based on the previous two

Voter ID laws

Laws that require ID can restrict who is able to vote if people do not have identification, without them voter fraud becomes more hard to regulate

Political Socialization

The process by which individuals internalize and develop their political values, ideas, attitudes and perceptions via the agents of socialization

6 Agents of socialization

Family(most influential) peers, school, media, civic/religious organizations, globalization

Voting behaviors- Rational Choice Voting

Person who votes based on their individual self interest, carefully studies the issues and platforms

Retrospective Voting

Person who votes based on the recent track record of the politicians in questions

Prospective Voting

Person who votes based on predictions of how a candidate will perform if elected

Party-line voting

Person who votes for all of one party’s candidates (straight ticket voting)

Individual issue voting

Person who votes based on who will best serve their desires about a singular issue

Five pillars of American beliefs of government – Individualism

Self reliant and Individualistic

Equality of opportunity

Everyone ought to have the opportunity to flourish

Free enterprise

An economic system in which private business operates in competition and largely free of state control. Hands off government

Rule of Law

Everyone is under the law

Limited government

Government needs clear limitations to power

Popular vote

Reflects the total number of individual votes, casted by citizens. supporters argue that it protects the interests of smaller states and maintains balance in the federal system.

Electoral College

Determines the winner based on the electoral votes, each candidate secures from each state. A candidate can win the presidency without winning the popular vote. Argues that the electoral college can override the wheel of the majority of voters.

Polarization

The divergence of political attitudes away from the center, towards ideological extremes

Partisanship

In Democratic Politics and government, a strong adherence, dedication, or loyalty to a political party – or to an Ideology or agenda associated with a political party – usually accompanied by a negative view of an opposing party

Ideology

A set of political opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual