AP Gov Unit 4

Political Socialization

Political Socialization

Complex process by which people get their sense of political identity, beliefs, and values (family, school, peers, mass media, religion, race, gender, age, geography, national events-all help to socialize).

Family's Influence on Political Socialization

Most important agent of political socialization. Children raised in households with both parents of the same party-->kids identify with same party.

School's Influence on Political Socialization

Class elections, student government, social studies classes teach liberty, equality, individualism, and democracy. College graduates have higher level of political participation than those who don't.

Mass Media's Influence on Political Socialization

declare probs an "issue" that then must be resolved (agenda setting), influence how events interpreted (framing), which candidate gets most attention & determines candidate "momentum" (elections).

Religion's Influence on Political Socialization

Creates order. More religious=more conservative.

Race and Ethnicity's Influence on Political Socialization

white: moderately republican (55/45)
latino: democratic (2/1)
african american: 90% of Af Ams are Democratic
why: nat gov abolished slavery; the states associated with Jim Crow etc.

Gender's Influence on Political Socialization

Women are 10% more democratic than men.

Age's Influence on Political Socialization

Young=overwhelmingly democratic.
Obama 2008 election: 85/15 for Obama but they "don't vote".
Middle-age=more conservative because of kids+ work.

Geographic Region's Influence on Political Socialization

South is more Republican/Conservative. West is more Democratic.

Democratic

Professors, women, blacks, West Coast, High School educated, Jewish.

Republican

Wealthy, white, Southern, educated (Phd), evangelical, males.

History of Polling

Federalist Papers; Exit Polls = Boston Globe 1883; Literary Digest (mail in opinion b/w FDR and Alf Landon) 1916; George Gallup 1936 scientific sampling-->goofed on Truman vs Dewey.

Straw Polls

Unreliable pole used to vote. Vote as many times as they like and that person is usually very passionate about the issue. Not representative of the public at large. Bad b/c sampling, timing, self-selection. Political leaders try to gauge public opinion.

Construct a Poll

Aids democratic process since public expresses opinions which leaders can address. But can sway public (bandwagoning).

Random Sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

Stratified Sample

A sample drawn in such a way that known subgroups within a population are represented in proportion to their numbers in the general population.

Push Polls

Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate.

Tracking Polls

Continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support.

Exit Polls

Polls based on interviews conducted on Election Day with randomly selected voters.

Margin of Error

A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll.

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.

Limited Respondents

Question by pollster must allow Respondent the appropriate range to answer, register their opinion;
Simple yes or no may be inadequate;
But lengthy questions may cancel out need for quick answers by the pollster.

Lack of Information

Polls may be inaccurate when attempting to gauge issues about which the public has little information.

Difficulty Measuring Intensity

Polls not necessarily designed to let people express complete opinions.

Political Realignment

the movement of voters from one political party to another resulting in a major shift in the political spectrum.

Critical Election

Sharp changes in the existing patterns of party loyalty due to changing social and economic conditions.

1800 Political Realignment

In the United States Presidential election of 1800, sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated incumbent president John Adams. The election was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party.

1828 Political Realignment

1828- Jacksonian democrats came into power.

1860 Political Realignment

1860- When the Whig Party collapsed and the Republicans under Lincoln came to power.

1932 Political Realignment

1932- Great Depression, not preceded by a 3rd Party movement, Jews, northern blacks, and union workers leave the Republicans for the FDR Democrats.

Secular Realignment

The gradual rearrangement of party coalitions, based more on demographic shifts than on shocks to the political system.`

De-alignment

A trend among voters to identify themselves as independents rather than as members of a major party.

Functions Performed by Party

They bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favorable to their interests or the groups that support them, and organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office.

Third Parties Cannot Win

Third parties in the USA face a number of significant obstacles:
1) The electoral system.
2) Federal campaign finance laws.
3) State ballot access laws.
4) Lack of resources.
5) Lack of media coverage.
6) Lack of well-known, well-qualified candidates.
7) Regarded as too ideological.
8) The tactics of the two major parties.

National Party Candidates

A meeting held once every 4 years by each party to select its presidential and vice-presidential candidates and finalize a party platform. Both major parties, and some minor parties, hold them, and they usually last for 4 days in the summer of the election year, and are held in a large city, with the venue being decided by each party's National Committee.

National Party Platform

A national party platform is a document produced every four years by the representatives of a political party during its national convention to nominate a presidential candidate. The platform declares to the public that party's vision, beliefs, and values, and its legislative plan and policy positions on important issues of the day. A position set forth in a platform is called a "plank," and platforms today are made of dozens of planks.

Party Delegates

Member of a party who is sent to the convention, typically party pures/activists, selection processes differ by states.

Primary Election

An election in which members of a political party vote to help select the party's candidate. Primaries are usually held 6-12 months before the general election.

General Election

A regularly scheduled local, state, or national election in which voters elect officeholders.

Closed Primary

A primary election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from crossing over to influence the nomination of an opposing party's candidate.

Open Primary

A primary election in which voters may choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place.

Party Identification

A citizen's self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other (geographic, gender, race, age, social/economic factors, religion, marital status).

Geographic Party Identification

The South - two party system
was solidly Democratic resulted from party attachments that were cultivated in the nineteenth century and hardened in the fires of the Civil War-->now two party.

Gender Party Identification

--1920 women mainly Republicans
--1980 a change
--Today 37% of women are Democrats
--Today 25% of women are Republicans
-Men lack to support Democrats
-The differences stem from differences in opinions about social welfare and military issues.

Race Party Identification

-African Americans give Democrats an 60% + advantage. dwarfs the advantage given to either party their proportion of strong Democrats is 3 times that of whites
-Hispanics by more than 2/3s prefer the Democratic Party.
-Cuban American Republican party

Age Party Identification

-oldest and younger voter Democrats
-middle-aged voters disproportionately favor the Republican party
-Socially progressive young adults liberal issues on social issues
-oldest voters who were alive during the great depression favor the Democratic Party support for social insurance programs.
-Middle aged voters favor low taxes championed by Republicans.

Social and Economic Party Identification

-people with educations tend to vote Republican
-with advanced degrees tend to be democrats
-Republicans predominant among executives, professionals, and white-collar workers,
- Democrats lead substantially among trail lawyers, educators, and blue collar workers

Religious Party Identification

White Protestant-Methodist, Presbyterians, and Episcopalisms favor Republicans
-Catholics and Jews Democrats

Marital Status Party Identification

-Married people tend to favor the Republican party
-Widowed Democrats
-divorced and separated Democrats

Barriers to Voting

Poll taxes, literacy tests, voter intimidation, grandfather laws, white primary, property ownership

Factors which Influence Voting

Education and Income
Age
Gender
Race and Ethnicity
Group Membership

Prospective Voting

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

Retrospective Voting

A theory of voting in which voters essentially ask this simple question: "What have you done for me lately?"

Initiative

Allows voters to petition to propose a law or constitutional amendment & then submit it for a vote by qualified voters.

Referendum

A procedure by which a proposed legislative measure can be submitted to a vote of the people.

Recall

A procedure for submitting to popular vote the removal of officials from office before the end of their term.

Primary

A ballot vote in which citizens select a party's nominee for the general election.

Caucus

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

Superdelegate

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

Front Loaded

The "front-loaded" primary system is the move by state to move up their primaries and caucuses to gain national attention and have their states make an impact on presidential selection process.

Electoral College

A group selected by the states to elect the president and the vice-president, in which each state's number of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress. President needs 270 electoral votes. President can win popular vote and lose election. If no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution provides for Presidential election by the House of Representatives with each State delegation receiving one vote.

Campaign Staff

Paid advisers, size is determined by the type of election you are running. National campaign: Pollsters, campaign manager, media consultant, speech writers, staff directors, press spokespeople, financial people.

Campaign Consultant

A private-sector professional who sells to a candidate the technologies, services, and strategies required to get that candidate elected.

Positive Political Advertisements

Campaign is put together all about the candidate running, and nothing about the competitor.

Negative Political Advertisements

Political advertising undertaken for the purpose of discrediting an opposing candidate in the eyes of the voters. Attack ads are one form of negative political advertising.

Contrast Political Advertisements

Ad that compares the records and proposals of the candidates, with bias toward the candidate sponsoring the ad.

Inoculation Political Advertisements

Answering the argument before it is made can have a significant effect and even prevent it from being used. This is a refutation strategy.

Public Matching Funds

The federal government will match up to $250 of an individual contribution to a candidate who has submitted proof the FEC that they have raised at least $5000 (given in incriments of $250 or less)in at least 20 states UP TO 42 MILLION.

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.

Hard Money

Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed.

Watergate Changed Campaign Finance

(passed because of watergate) limited campaign contributions and administered stricter election laws.

Campaign Finance Reform

Legislation aimed at placing limits on political candidates accepting money and gifts from individuals and special interest groups.

Tillman Act 1907

Making it a crime for banks and corporation to directly contribute to candidates in federal elections.

Corrupt Practices Act 1910, 11, 25

A series of acts passed by Congress in an attempt to limit and regulate the size and sources of contributions and expenditures in political campaigns.

Hatch Act 1939

1939 - Prohibited federal office holders from participating actively in political campaigns or soliciting or accepting contributions.

Taft-Hartley Act 1947

Act that provides balance of power between union and management by designating certain union activities as unfair labor practices; also known as Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA). SEE REVIEW.

Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA) 1971

Passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances; created Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections; limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.

Buckley v. Valeo 1976

A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech. The court also stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns. SOFT MONEY.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) 2000 (McCain-Fiengold Bill)

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

McConnell v. Federal Election Commission 2003

(2002): Upheld a law prohibiting corporations and labor unions from running ads that mention candidates and their positions for sixty days before a federal general election. Upheld BCRA.

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission 2010

US Supreme court struck down as unconstitutional provisions that prohibited independent expenditures by business corporations, nonprofit organizations and unions to fund "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. Struck down issue advocacy clause of BCRA.

McCutcheon v. FEC 2014

The case is about whether or not Congress may limit the total amount of donations an individual can make, at the federal level, in an election cycle.

Political Action Committee

A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations. Influences Federal election.

SuperPac

A type of independent political action committee which may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but is not permitted to contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates.

Non-Connected Pac

Groups with an ideological mission, single-issue groups, and members of Congress and other political leaders, These organizations may accept funds from any individual, business PAC or organization, FASTEST-GROWING CATEGORY.

Connected Pac

Connected to a political group, union, business, or political party. Collect and raise money only for the party they are connected to. These pacs raise money from a "restricted class", generally consisting of managers and shareholders in the case of corporation and members in the case of a union or interest group.

527 Group

Independent groups that seek to influence the political process but are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly advocate the election of a particular candidate. Use issue advocacy. Tax exempt.

Muckrackers

Journalists who wrote about corruption in business and politics in order to bring about reform.

Yellow Journalism

Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.

News Cycle

The time between the release of information and its publication, like the twenty four hours between issues of a daily newspaper.

Media Consolidation

Companies merge to create large conglomerates of many newspapers and broadcasting stations; Rupert Murdoch, Fox News, 20th Century Fox, TV Guide.

Big Six

The six major Hollywood studios that currently rule the commercial film business: Warner Brothers, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Columbia Pictures, and Disney.

individalism

a belief in the fundamental worth and importance of the individual

principle of enlightened self interest

the belief that one's own interests are best served when good of group is also considered

What is the primary agent of political socialization?

Family

Why are both Democrats and Republicans generally reluctant to decrease spending on Social Security?

Most Social Security benefits are paid to older people, and older people are more likely to vote.

Liberals typically favor broad rights of citizens in all of the following policy areas except

gun ownership

Conservatives typically favor decreasing federal funding for all of the following except

national defense

What is considered furthest to the left on the political spectrum?

Socialist

Someone who is conservative on economic issues and liberal on social issues most closely aligns to which of the following political parties?

Libertarian