Social Studies

Ballot: a list of candidates and proposals that citizens use to cast a secret vote. The ballot may be printed on paper, set up on a voting machine or computer, or available on the Internet.

Battleground States: states that have a large number of undecided voters, also known as “swing states”. 

Blue states/Red states: on election maps, states that tend to vote Democrat are blue and states that tend to vote Republican are red. (Battleground (Swing) states are often purple.)

Caucus: a meeting of party members to choose candidates to run in an election. In some states, Democrats and Republicans will hold caucuses to determine which candidate they will support for president. Other states use Primaries, which are special elections held in states to determine who will run in an election for each of the parties.

Conservative: people who generally believe the government should play a limited role in regulating business and making social reforms. They often vote Republican.

Delegate: a person chosen to vote on other people’s behalf. Delegates vote for the candidates at their political party’s national convention, usually based on the results of their state’s primaries or caucuses.

Electoral College: a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president in December. Each state has the same number of electoral votes as representatives in Congress (Senators + Representatives). 

538: The number of electorates in the electoral college. (It is the number of Senators (100) + the number of Representatives (435) + 3 for Washington DC.)

270: The number of electoral college votes needed for a candidate to win.

Front-Runner: the candidate favored to win an election.

Inauguration: the formal ceremony in which the president is sworn into office. The next presidential inauguration will be January 20, 2025.

Incumbent: a person who currently holds a position or an office.

Landslide: an election in which the winner receives a much larger number of votes than the other candidates.

Liberal: people who generally believe the government should take an active role in regulating business and solving social issues. They often vote Democrat.

Mudslinging: particularly vile or overly personal campaign tactics.

Platform: a political party’s positions and plans to solve the country’s problems. Party members write and adopt the platform at their national convention.

Popular Vote: the votes cast by regular citizens on Election Day. In a popular vote, each citizen’s individual vote counts toward the outcome.

Populist: a political figure of any party who appeals to or claims to represent the common people.

Stump Speech: the standard speech candidates give day to day on the campaign trail, it is named after the speeches that were historically given by candidates before TV and internet campaigns (often they were standing on tree stumps to be seen by crowds).

PAC/Super PAC: Political Action Committees (PACs) are groups that can collect up to $5000 per donor per year to support a candidate. Super PACs can collect unlimited amounts from donors (including corporations and unions) but can’t coordinate their efforts with a candidate’s campaign.