Unit 2: Political Ideologies and Beliefs

  • political culture

    • commonly shared attitudes, beliefs, and core values about how government should operate

  • core values

    • the most dominant beliefs that we hold but each of the 5 mean something different to different people which can cause conflict

  • political ideology

    • your beliefs about government and politics

  • political socialization

    • the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions

  • Scientific polling

    • 1. define the universe to be surveyed

  • benchmark poll

    • initial poll on a candidate and issues on which campaign strategy is based and against which later polls are compared

  • Entrance Poll

    • A poll that is taken before voters have cast their votes at the polling stations

  • party platform

    • A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years.

  • Supporters of liberal ideology

    • black, latino, women, lower class, college educated, cities, northeast and west coast, younger, Korean Americans, jewish or non religious, younger

  • Individualism

    • the belief that individuals should be responsible for themselves and for the decisions they make

  • equality of opportunity

    • all people should have the opportunity to succeed; not equality of results

  • Supporters of conservative ideology

    • white, men, rural, wealthy, south and Midwest, older, white protestant, Japanese Americans, Cuban Americans, business owners

  • free enterprise

    • an economic system in which government intrudes as little as possible in economic transactions among citizens and businesses

  • opinion polls

    • surveys that ask members of the public how they feel about different issues

  • exit polls

    • Polls conducted as voters leave selected polling places on Election Day.

  • tracking polls

    • continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise or fall in support

  • Keynesianism Theory

    • inject money into the system to counterbalance of constriction of the market

  • mixed economy

    • An economy in which private enterprise exists in combination with a considerable amount of government regulation and promotion.

  • liberal ideology supports

    • Political and social reform

  • conservative ideology

    • maintain peace through strength (military spending), supports troops, right to life, support prayer in schools, oppose affirmative action, favor free-market solutions, low taxes, low spending, go after the criminals, free gun control, less criminal rights

  • supply-side economics

    • An economic philosophy that holds the sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government.

  • Federal Reserve System

    • The country's central banking system, which is responsible for the nation's monetary policy by regulating the supply of money and interest rates. It has a board with 7 governors and 12 banks.

  • rule of law

    • nobody including elected officials are above the law

  • limited government

    • government must be limited in order to prevent it from taking away rights and liberty

  • Trickle Down Economics

    • economic theory that holds that money lent to banks and businesses will trickle down to consumers