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Political science focuses on answering key questions about how and why governance operates, specifically examining who governs, to what ends, how issues reach the public agenda, how issue politics evolve over time, what obstacles and opportunities arise, and what roles public opinion, interest groups, the media, the courts, and political parties play. Two fundamental questions lie at the core of studying American politics: "who governs?" and "to what ends?". The question of who governs looks at how political power is actually distributed in America and what explains major political change. The question of to what ends considers what political values matter most in American democracy and whether trade-offs among political purposes are inevitable.

An issue is defined as a real or apparent conflict between the interests, ideas, or beliefs of different citizens. Politics is the specific activity by which an issue is agitated or settled, which can occur through negotiation, argument, discussion, application of force, or persuasion. Central to politics are the concepts of power, authority, and legitimacy. Power is the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with their wishes. Authority is rightful power, which varies over time and from country to country. Legitimacy is political authority conferred by law or by a constitution. Democracy itself is defined broadly as the rule of the many. It manifests in two primary forms: direct (or participatory) democracy, in which most citizens participate directly in government decision-making, and representative democracy, in which elected leaders make governmental decisions on behalf of citizens. Regarding how political power is distributed in the United States, political scientists analyze five distinct views. The class view holds that government is dominated by capitalists. The power elite view argues that government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of whom are outside of government. The bureaucratic view posits that government is dominated by appointed officials. The pluralist view is the belief that competition among all or most affected interests shapes public policy. The creedal passion view asserts that government is dominated by morally impassioned elites. The political agenda consists of the issues that people believe require governmental action. This agenda expands over time and is affected by shared political values, the weight of custom and tradition, the impact of major events (such as the immediate aftermath of 9/11, where Americans felt powerfully connected to fellow citizens upon seeing first responders in action), and changes in the way political elites think and talk about politics or terms of debate. Several actors and entities drive and expand this agenda: organized and unorganized groups, government institutions (including courts and bureaucracies, which act as active sources of policy rather than just reactive bodies), the media, and actions taken by individual states. The type of issue directly affects the nature of politicking surrounding it, depending on the policy's perceived monetary or nonmonetary costs and benefits, as well as perceptions of whether the beneficiary is deserving. Costs are the burdens that people believe they must bear if a policy is adopted, while benefits are the satisfactions that people believe they will enjoy. A simple theory of politics categorizes issues based on whether these costs and benefits are distributed widely across almost everybody (such as income tax or Social Security) or distributed narrowly to small groups (such as farm subsidies). This dynamic divides public policy into four distinct types of politics based on perceived costs versus perceived benefits. Majoritarian politics features distributed benefits and distributed costs, meaning almost everybody benefits and almost everybody pays. Majoritarian politics is subject to the free-rider problem, and Social Security serves as a primary example. Most major social legislation reflects majoritarian politics. Interest group politics features concentrated benefits and concentrated costs, where one small group benefits and another small group pays, usually involving heavy participation by organized interest groups. An example of interest group politics includes regulations affecting layoff notifications for union members. Client politics features concentrated benefits and distributed costs, where one small group benefits while almost everybody pays. Client politics frequently involves pork-barrel legislation and log-rolling, with farm subsidies serving as a clear example. Entrepreneurial politics features distributed benefits and concentrated costs, where almost everybody benefits while a small group pays. This type relies heavily on policy entrepreneurs, such as Ralph Nader, and is illustrated by environmental protection regulations. Finally, policy dynamics dictate that policy issues can remain stable, change a little or a lot, and move slowly or quickly, meaning there is no single typical path for how policy evolves over time.