Gov Unit 5

AP Government Unit Five: 

Political Participation

Directions:  All terms should be written in your spiral notebook, Quizlet, or on notecards. This will become the cornerstone of your database for all terms associated with AP Government and Politics.  When reviewing for the AP Government Test this will be one of your most important resources.

Enduring Understandings:

• Factors associated with political ideology, efficacy, structural barriers, and demographics influence the nature and degree of political participation.

• Political parties, interest groups, and social movements provide opportunities for participation and influence how people relate to government and policy-makers.

• The impact of federal policies on campaigning and electoral rules continues to be contested by both sides of the political spectrum.  

• The various forms of media provide citizens with political information and influence the ways in which they participate politically.  

Terms To Know and Define:

Linkage institutions- Channels that connect individuals with government, including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media

Poll tax- A payment required by a state or fed gov before a citizen is allowed to vote

Political efficacy- A person's belief that they can make effective political change

Absentee ballot- Voting completed and submitted by a voter before the day of an election without going to the polls

Plurality and Plurality elections- Candidate who polls more votes is elected (electoral college)

Rational-choice voting-Voting based on what a citizen believes is in their best interest

Retrospective voting- Voting based on an assessment of a candidate'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- voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all offices on the ballot 

Third parties-A minor political party in competition with the two major parties. 

Realignment- When the groups of people who support a political party shift their allegiance to a different political party.

26th- 18 year voting age 

24th- prohibited poll taxes as a condition for voting in fed elections  

15th- African American men can vote 

19th- women can vote 

17th- Direct election of senators  

23rd- DOC can vote 

Voting Rights Act of 1965- prevents use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and other methods previously required to vote.

Campaign Finance- Funds raised to promote candidates and political parties. 

Political Action Committee (PAC)- An organization that raises money to elect and defeat candidates and may donate money directly to a candidate's campaign, subject to limits.

Super PAC- An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign

Hard money- Disclosed. limited donations to candidates.

Soft money- Undisclosed, unlimited donations to candidates.

Federal Election Campaign Act- Established fed election commission to regulate fed elections, all fed candidates can receive fed subsidies on a matching fund. Most don’t take it as there are limitations. 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold)- Bands soft money donations to national political parties and prevents unions and corporations from donating to parties directly.

Citizens United v. FEC- Hillary movie within 30 days of a primary. corporations/unions have first amendment speech rights like individuals. The BCRA is unconstitutional in limiting speech. 

General election vs. Primary election- Primaries: select party nominees where the general is voting for office on a national level. 

Nomination- The formal process through which parties choose their candidates for political office.

Delegate- A person who acts as the voter’s representative at a convention to select the party’s nominee.

Straight ticket voting-Voting for all the candidates on the ballot from one party.

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

Political party- An organized group of party leaders, office holders, and voters who work together to elect candidates to political office

Party platform- A set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to

Super Tuesday- A day were many states hold their primaries and often dictate the outcome of an election.

Swing state- A state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Dem and Rep

Battleground state- A state were the polls show a close contest between the two parties candidates in a presidential election

Caucus- A process through which a state’s eligible voters meet selected delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process. 

Primaries (Open, Closed, and Blanket)- election where a state's voters choose delegates who support a presidential candidate for nomination or an election by plurality vote to select a party's nominee for a seat in congress. Open- all eligible voters may vote, regardless of party affiliation. Closed- only those who have registered as a member of a political party may vote. Blanket- mix and match votes between parties.

Frontloading- A decision by the state to move up its primary or caucus to a date early in election season as possible to gain more influence in the presidential nomination process. To make themselves relevant.

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

Superdelegates- Usually a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the states primary/caucus. 

Single member plurality election- an election system for choosing members of the legislature where the winner is the candidate who receives the most votes, even if the candidate does not receive a majority of the votes.

Interest groups- Act on behalf of collective interests of a broad group. can be on behalf of governments (state, local, foreign)

lobbying- Interacting with government officials in order to advance a group's public policy goals. 

Single-issue group- associations focusing on one specific area of public policy, often a moral issue about which they are unwilling to compromise.

Agenda setting- The media’s ability to highlight certain issues and bring them to the attention of the public. 

Horse race journalism- Coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on the drama of the campaign than on policy issues.

Directions:  The questions below will help to serve as a “what you need to know to be successful” as it relates to concepts associated with Unit Five.  We will address these questions in various ways throughout the unit.  Bottom line…you better know the answers to these questions!!!

Questions to Answer:

Text Pages: 422-435

1. Identify and explain 5 demographic factors behind why people vote. 

economic statues, age, race, gender.

2. Explain the institutional reasons for low voter turnout in the U.S. 

ID requirements, voting location (mail, online, in person), voting registration process, residency requirements, timing of elections (on a Tuesday)

3. What, if anything, can be done to increase voter turnout in the U.S.?

Create a uniform voting registration and vote casting system. While states have the right to decide how voting should be done, it really should be uniform across states to make it easier for voters. 

Text Pages: 436-442

4. What are the major arguments against the Electoral College?

• It is undemocratic because it doesn;t reflect the majority 

• may lower voter turnout: a republican living in a democratic state  

Text Pages: 418-421,  443-447

5. Why is “soft money” such a roadblock to campaign finance reform?  

Any reforms on the hard money side do not affect soft money as it is undisclosed and therefore makes laws obsolete. 

6. Describe the difference between a PAC and a Super-PAC.

PAC’s may donate directly. coordinate to a campaign with limits and cannot collect from unions and corporate treasury funds while super PACs may spend an unlimited amount on a campaign as long as it’s not coordinated with a campaign and may accept unlimited amounts from corporate treasury funds and non-foreign sources. 

7. How can individual donors and Political Action Committees ( PAC’s) influence the election process financially? 

They can spend to run attack ads to advocate for the defeat of a candidate.  

Text Pages: 458-476

8. What are some functions that political parties perform? 

Recruit, nominate, and support candidates for office, provide labels that voters can use as identification shortcuts to get closer to their political views (Dem/Rep).Enact policy positions and act as an opposition to the majority party when the minority. 

9. Explain what party realignment is and what factors contributed to this in critical elections. 

The shifting of party coalitions and party controls in a government from one to another. Critical elections signal a change in balance of power between two parties.

10. Summarize the nomination process. 

Candidates decide to run for office, parties choose a nominee during the election campaign. Candidates compete for party nomination and seek help of party delegates to secure the party nomination. Then the primaries are held to select nominations for office, then the general is held to select the holder of office.

11. What factors account for the 2 party system? 

 Single member plurality system, where voters have a single vote for one candidate and the winner take all system, where the democratic party and republican party win almost every election.

12. Why have 3rd parties struggled to gain traction in our political system? 

A lot of the time they focus on one issue and that’s not enough to get votes, they also generally have less funding and less media coverage which makes it difficult to compete. For example you need to pull at 15% to get on the debate stage and because third parties are so underrepresented they can’t even get enough votes to be heard by the whole public.