AP Gov Final

Vocabulary

Political Ideology - certain ideas, beliefs, values and opinions

A right - legal entitlement or freedom granted by the government

a privilege - something that can be given and taken away

Interest Group - an organized group of people who share a common concern and work to influence that concern into public

Lobbying - seek to influence (a politician or public official) on an issue

Liberal - A supporter of political policies that promote civil liberties individual rights, democracy, and free enterprise, more on a left-leaning agenda, favoring Democrats

Conservative - a supporter of political policies that promote traditional values, more on a right-leaning agenda, favoring Republicans

Libertarianism - A supporter of individualism, free market, and minimal governmental intervention

Voter Turnout - How much people participate in voting

Rational Choice Voting - Voting based on what a citizen believes is in her/his best interest

Retrospective Voting - voting based on a political official’s past performance

Prospective Voting - Casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter in the future

Party-line voting/Straight Ticket Voting - Voting for a candidate who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot

Split-ticket voting - Voting for a candidate from different parties in the same election

Incumbent - A political official who is currently in office

Socioeconomic status - social standing or class of an individual or group

Deficit Spending - Spending more money than you have

fiscal policy - use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy, aiming to promote growth, stability, and reduce unemployeement

Monetary Policy - When the Federal Reserve adjusts the money supply and interest rate to achieve price stability and maximum employement

Domestic Policy - type of public policy overseeing administrative decisions that are directly related to all issues and activity within the country’s borders

Political Efficacy: a person’s belief that they can make effective political change.

• The higher the level of education the higher a person’s political efficacy tends to be.

PAC (Politcal Action Committees): Political committees established and ran by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations, or trade associations that can $5,000 to a candidate or candidate party for each election, or $15,000 per political year

Super PAC: Politcal committee that can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. CANNOT DONATE DIRECTLY TO POLITICIAN OR POLITICAL PARTY BUT can spend to campaign against political figures.

Electoral College:A constitutionally required process for selecting the president through slates of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election.

Elector: A person appointed by a state in the U.S. to vote for president and vice president in the electoral college

Nomination: Part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office.

Delegate: a person sent or authorized to represent others, to be specific an elected representative sent to a conference.

Primary Election: an election where political parties choose their candidates for the general election.

Open Primary: allows all registered voters to pick a candidate from any political party.

Closed Primary: only voters registered for the political party that’s hosting the primary, may vote

Caucus: A closed meeting of a group of people belonging to the same politcal party, usually to select presidental candidates or decide on policy

Swing State: A state on the electoral college that can either be Democratic or Republican (aka battleground states)

Laissez-faire: not having the government interfere with the free market

Command Economy: an economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government.

Mixed Economy: an economy organized with some free-market elements and some socialistic elements

Unemployement Rate: the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force

Inflation: a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Consumer Price Index: compares how much it would cost now to do exactly what consumers did in the reference period with what it cost then

Trade Policy: the set of rules, regulations, and strategies a government uses to manage its international trade and commerce

Social Security: government insurance system that provides benefits to retired people

Concepts, Processes and Amendments

23rd Amendment: Gave citizens of Washington D.C. the right to vote in Presidental elections

26th Amendment: lowered the voting age to 18

Electoral College System:

• up to 538 Electoral Votes up for grabs, number based of on congressional representation

  100 Senators, 2 Per State

  435 House of Representative Members - based on state population

  3 Votes for D.C.

• California has 54 Electoral Votes:

• Minimum of 270 Votes needed to Win

• If there is a tie, The vote goes to the House of Representatives, each state gets 1 Vote

There are states that have just 1 representative. For those with more than one, the house members vote and the majority vote casts their 1 vote.

• Presidental Elections typically occur between November 2nd and 8th,

  • Remember this is an indirect election. Voters are not directly voting for the presidential candidate; they are voting for a slate of electors.

• State electors meet in their respective states, and cast their votes for President and Vice President

  • State Electors have made a vow to vote for their party candidate, with many states requiring them to do so.

• Inauguration Day is on Janurary 20th

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC): Agreement among a group of U.S states and District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whoever wins popular vote

Voter Turnout Demographic Characteristics:

Measures of Socioeconomic Status, Person’s Age, Gender, and Racial and Ethnic Identity.

Winner-take-all System: If A Presidental Candidate even wins by one vote, all the electoral votes for that state goes to the winner.

Nebraska and Maine do not have this system

Difficulties for Third Parties: Since Third parties are so underminded in the election, it’s often hard for them to gain votes in the Electoral College, but it’s not impossible.

Ranked Choice Voting: An electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on the ballots.

Policy-making: Presidents can win the election, but to get their agenda pushed into the public, they must have a majority hold in the Senate and House.

Ex: If a Republican wins the Election, but the Democrats hold the majority in House and Senate, it would be hard to push the Republican Agenda out, since it would be dominated by Democrats and Vice-Versa.

Conservative Economic Ideology:

• Less Regulations on Marketplace

• Lower taxes for Middle class & Higher Income

• Don’t favor governmental spending to promote social and economic equality

• Somewhat Support for Retirement programs and no support for poor

Liberal Economic Ideology:

• Increased government regulation on Marketplace

• Higher taxes for Rich

• Increase taxes to promote social and economic equality

• Favor Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

Libertarian Economic Ideology:

• Little to No Regulation beyond protection of Property Rights

• Minimal Taxes

• Government should protect private and individual liberty and property

• Minimal Government Spending

Keynesian Economics:

• Government should stimulate economy during recessions to promote economic growth

• Deficit Spending is Okay

• Favored by Democrats

Supply-side Economics:

• Government should stimulate economy but cutting taxes

• Okay with deficits caused by tax cuts

• Favored by Republicans

Tools of Monetary Policy

• Reserve Requirement: The % of depositis that banks are required to keep on reserve and cannot lend out

  • Fed Increases Reserve, banks have less money, decreasing money supply and raising interest

  • Fed decreases reserve, banks have more money, increasing money supply, and lowering interest

• Discount Rate: The interest rate that banks pay to borrow money from Federal Reseerve

  • Fed lowers rate, increasing money and lowers interests

  • Fed raises rate, decreases money and increases interests

• Open market operations: the purchase or sale of financial assets for the purpose of either increasing or decreasing money supply

  • Fed purchases assets, increases money supply and lowers interest rate

  • Fed sells assets, decreases money and increases interest