AP Gov Unit 4 Vocab

political participation: the different ways in which individuals take action to shape the laws and policies of a government. (p. 421) 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. (p. 421) linkage institution: channels that connect individuals with government , including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media. (p. 424) social movement: the joining of individuals seeking social or political change with the goal of placing issues on the policy agenda. demographic characteristics: measurable characteristics of a population, such as economic status, education, age, race or ethnicity, and gender. (p. 428) socioeconomic status (SES): a measure of an individual’s wealth, income, occupation, and educational attainment. (p. 428) political efficacy: a person’s belief that he or she can make effective political change. (p. 429) political mobilization: efforts by political parties to encourage their members to vote. (p. 434) registration requirements: the set of rules that govern who can vote and how, when, and where they vote. (p. 434) absentee ballot: voting completed and submitted by a voter before the day of an election without going to the polls. franchise (or suffrage): the right to vote. (p. 427) poll tax: a payment required by a state or federal government before a citizen is allowed to vote. (p. 427) Twenty-Fourth Amendment: prohibits Congress and the states from imposing poll taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections. (p. 427) Twenty-Sixth Amendment: allows those eighteen years and older to vote. (p. 427) voter turnout: the number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a percentage of the total number of eligible voters. rational choice voting: voting based on what a citizen believes is in his or her best interest. (p. 439) retrospective voting: voting based on an assessment of an incumbent’s past performance. (p. 439) prospective voting: casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter in the future. (p. 439) party-line voting: voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot. 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. (p. 442) winner-take-all system: a system of elections in which the candidate who wins the plurality of votes within a state receives all of that state’s votes in the Electoral College. (p. 442) battleground state: a state where the polls show a close contest between the Republican and Democratic candidate in a presidential election. (p. 443) swing state: a state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans Get out the vote (GOTV): efforts to mobilize spolitical party: an organized group of party leaders, officeholders, and voters that work together to elect candidates to political office. (p. 457) party identification: the degree to which a voter is connected to and influenced by a particular political party. (p. 460) straight-ticket voting: voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party. (p. 461) split-ticket voting: voting for candidates from different parties in the same election. (p. 462) party platform: a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to. (p. 462) recruitment: the process through which political parties identify potential candidates. (p. 462) 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. (p. 448) party coalition: groups of voters who support a political party over time. (p. 464) realignment: when the groups of people who support a political party shift their allegiance to a different political party. (p. 464) critical election: a major national election that signals a change in the balance of power between the two parties. (p. 464) party era: a time period when one party wins most national elections. (p. 464) era of divided government: a trend since 1969, in which one party controls one or both houses of Congress and the president is from the opposing party nomination: the formal process through which parties choose their candidates for political office. (p. 468) delegate: a person who acts as the voters’ representative at a convention to select the party’s presidential nominee. (p. 469) primary election: an election in which a state’s voters choose delegates who support a candidate for nomination. (p. 469) open primary: a primary election in which all eligible voters may vote, regardless of their partisan affiliation. (p. 470) closed primary: a primary election in which only registered voters from a political party may vote. (p. 470) caucus: a process through which a state’s eligible voters meet to select delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process. (p. 470) superdelegate: usually a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the state’s primary or caucus. (p. 471) front-loading: a decision by a state to push its primary or caucus to a date as early in the season as possible to become more influential in the nomination process. (p. 471) national convention: a meeting where delegates officially select their party’s nominee for the presidency. (p. 472) candidate-centered campaign: a trend in which candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the party elite. (p. 475) two-party system: a system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections. (p. 476) proportional representation system: an election system for a legislature in which citizens vote for parties, rather than individuals, and parties are represented in the legislature according to the percentage of the vote they receive. (p. 476) single-member plurality system: 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. (p. 476) third party: a minor political party in competition with the two major parties. (p. 477) interest groups: voluntary associations of people who come together with the goal of getting the policies that they favor enacted. (p. 487) social movements: diffuse groups that educate the public and put pressure on policymakers in an effort to bring about societal change. (p. 487) theory of participatory democracy: the belief that citizens impact policymaking through their involvement in civil society. (p. 489) civil society: groups outside the government that advocate for policy. (p. 489) pluralist theory: a theory that political power is distributed among many competing groups, which means that no single group can grow too powerful. (p. 489) elitist theory: a theory that the wealthy elite class has a disproportionate amount of economic and political power. (p. 490) policy agenda: the set of issues to which government officials, voters, and the public are paying attention. (p. 490) collective action: political action that occurs when individuals contribute their energy, time, or money to a larger group goal. (p. 490) collective good: also called a public good; a public benefit that individuals can enjoy or profit from, even if they do not help achieve it. (p. 490) free riders: individuals who enjoy collective goods and benefit from the actions of an interest group without joining. (p. 491) selective benefits: benefits available only to those who join the group. revolving door: the movement of individuals between positions in government and lobbying positions. (p. 493) amicus curiae brief: a brief filed by someone who is not a party to a case in an attempt to persuade the Court to agree with the arguments set forth in the brief. (p. 495) iron triangle: the coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals. (p. 496) issue network: the webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates. (p. 496) grassroots lobbying: mobilizing interest group members to pressure their representatives by contacting them directly through phone calls, email, and social media. economic interest groups: groups advocating on behalf of the financial interests of their members. (p. 493) public interest groups: groups that act on behalf of the collective interests of a broad group of individuals. (p. 493) single-issue groups: associations focusing on one specific area of public policy, often a moral issue about which they are unwilling to compromise. (p. 493) government interest groups: organizations acting on behalf of local, state, or foreign governments. (p. 493) lobbying: interacting with government officials in order to advance a group’s public policy goals. protest: a public demonstration designed to call attention to the need for change. (p. 499) civil disobedience: intentionally breaking a law to call attention to an injustice. news media: a broad term that includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, Internet sources, blogs, and social media postings that cover important events. (p. 508) social media: forms of electronic communication that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. (p. 508) agenda setting: the media’s ability to highlight certain issues and bring them to the attention of the public. (p. 508) mass media: sources of information designed to reach a wide audience, including newspapers, radio, television, and Internet outlets. (p. 510) wire service: an organization that gathers and reports on news and then sells the stories to other outlets. (p. 510) investigative journalism: an approach to newsgathering in which reporters dig into stories, often looking for instances of wrongdoing. (p. 510) broadcast media: outlets for news and other content including radio and television that bring stories directly into people’s homes. media consolidation: the concentration of ownership of the media into fewer corporations. partisan bias: the slanting of political news coverage in support of a particular political party or ideology. (p. 519) horse-race journalism: coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on the drama of the campaign rather than on policy issues.