POLS 1101: Voting and Political Participation

Conventional Participation

relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture

Uncoventional Participation

political participation that attempts to influence the political process through unusual or extreme measures, such as protests, boycotts, and picketing

Conventional Participation

relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture

Uncoventional Participation

political participation that attempts to influence the political process through unusual or extreme measures, such as protests, boycotts, and picketing

Socioeconomic Status

position in society, based on a combination of education, occupational status, and income

Franchise

an individual or company that holds a franchise for the sale of goods or the operation of a service

Institutional Barrier

policies, procedures, or situations that systematically disadvantage certain groups of people

Single- Issue Voters

People who base their votes on candidates' or parties' positions on one particular issue of public policy, regardless of the candidates' or parties' positions on other issues.

Negative Campaigning

campaign content that attacks an opponent's position on an issue, performance in office, or personal traits

Microtargeting

The process of targeting very specific groups of potential voters. For example, using databases that combine voter rolls with credit card purchase information or grocery store savings club records to identify potential supporters.

Candidate

A person who is running for elected office.

Focus Group

A method of gauging public opinion by observing a small number of people brought together to discuss specific issues, usually under the guidance of a moderator.

Issue Voting

Voting for candidates based on their positions on specific issues, as opposed to their party or personal characteristics.

Mobilization

Also known as "getting out the vote." Mobilization occurs when activists working for parties, candidates, or interest groups ask members of the electorate to vote.

Party Identification

An individual's enduring affective or instrumental attachment to one of the political parties; the most accurate single predictor of voting behavior.

Party Label

A label carrying the party's "brand name," incorporating the policy positions and past performance voters attribute to it.

Performance Label

Performance Voting

Basing votes for a candidate or party on how successfully the candidate or party performed while in office.

Two Examples of Political Participation

Conventional and Unconventional Participation

Examples of Conventional Participation

campaigning for candidates, running for political offices, joining a political party, signing petitions, organizing boycotts, and (especially) voting in elections.

Examples of Unconventional Political Participation

protests, boycotts, and picketing

Identify the Key Features of the Likely Voter

age, generation, income, education, occupation, residential context, sex, partisanship/ political interest, socialization, race/ethnicity

Factors that Affect the Likelihood of Voting

attitudes, candidates, close election, issues, political events, political parties, labor unions, interest groups, social capital

Why does Political Participation matter?

It is what makes up a democracy

What key role does individuals play in the government?

By voicing their concerns and their opinions through political participation

When are people most likely to vote or participate in politics? Why?

What trends do we observe concerning voter turnout?

1) voter turnout has declined since the 1960's

2) Voter turnout in the US is lower than in the other industrialized countries

What are some examples of institutional barriers to the franchise commonly employed in the US?

What are the potential problems with delegating authority to representatives in government? How do elections help reduce these risks?

Agency loss, elections give ordinary citizens a say in who represents them, prospect of future elections motivate officeholders to work to keep their jobs, watchdogs for officeholders

What benefits do people get from voting? Which of these benefits do they still receive if they personally do not vote?

benefits of collective action, gives leader's reason to care about people's interests

Voting, in effect, makes voters choose between a future governed by candidate A and one governed by candidate B. Most voters can't actually predict the future. What tools allow voters to make predictions about future performance?

by looking at past performance, assessing the issues and policy options, party identification

26th Amendment

Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. It was a result of the Vietnam War, in which young men felt that if they could fight, they should be able to vote

19th Amendment

Gave women the right to vote

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or precious condition of servitude

What is the most important personal characteristic for predicting a person's vote

in a federal

election?

What is the most important aggregate statistic in predicting which party is likely to win a presidential election?

What do candidate spend most of their money on? Is money enough to win? Does it help all

candidate equally? What type of candidate benefits the most from increased spending?