AP Gov Unit 2 Vocab (not complete)

Political culture: a dominant set of beliefs, customs, traditions, and values that define the relationship between citizens and government

Individualism - the belief that individuals should be responsible for themselves and their decisions

Equality of opportunity - everyone should be given a chance to succeed

Free enterprise - government plays as small of a role as possible in the economy

Rule of law - no one is above the law

Limited government - prevents taking rights away and liberties

Political socialization - the experiences and factors that influence political ideology

Political ideology - coherent set of beliefs about politics and government

Generational effect - impact of historical events experienced by a generation upon political views

Life cycle effect - effect of a persons age and stage in life on political views

Globalization - increasing interconnectedness of people, businesses, and countries throughout the world

Outsourcing - company moving businesses to somewhere cheaper and production is more efficient

Public opinion - sum of individual attitudes about gov, policies and issues

Focus group - a small group assembled for conversation on a specific issue

Scientific polling - poll of randomly selected respondents with good sample size

Sample - group of individuals from larger population to measure public opinion

Representative sample - sample that reflects demographics of the population

Weighing - adjusting survey to demographics of larger population

Sampling error - margin of error in poll, normally +/- 3%

Mass survey - survey used to measure national opinion, usually at least 1500 people

Entrance survey - people asked walking into an event

Exit survey - people asked after an event (who’d you vote for an why?)

Benchmark poll - taken at beginning of campaign to gauge existing support and causes

Tracking poll - determines level of support for candidate or issue during campaign

Random digit dialing - call some generate # and ask questions for a survey

Question order - the sequencing of questions (can affect the polls)

Question wording - way the question is worded (can affect the polls)

Push polls - fake surveys to influence voter