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political interest
elections/interest groups/media
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Amicus curiae brief | “friend of the court” brief filed by an interest group to influence a Supreme Court decision. |
| Dealignment argument | contention that parties are less meaningful to voters, who have abandoned the parties in greater numbers to become independents. |
| Divided government | government in which one party controls the presidency while another party controls the Congress. |
| Elite theory | theory that upper class elites exercise great influence over public policy. |
| Factions | term used by Madison to denote what we now call interest groups. |
| Fairness Doctrine | FCC rule (no longer in effect) that required broadcasters to air a variety of viewpoints on their programs. |
| Feeding frenzy | Just as sharks engage in a feeding frenzy when they sense blood in the water, the media “attack” when they sense wrongdoing or scandal in government, and devote great amounts of coverage to such stories. |
| Free rider problem | the problem faced by interest groups when citizens can reap the benefits of interest group action without actually joining, participating in, or contributing money to such groups. |
| Horse race coverage | the tendency of the media to report on an election campaign as if it were a horse race, i.e., who is ahead, who is behind, who is gaining ground. |
| Iron triangle | an informal association of federal agency, congressional committee, and interest group that is said to have heavy influence over policy making. |
| Litigation | the act or process of carrying out a lawsuit. |
| Lobbying | attempting to influence policy makers |
| Nonpartisan elections | elections in which candidates are not identified by party membership on the ballot. |
| Office column ballot | ballot in which candidates are arranged by office rather than party. Encourages split ticket voting. |
| Party column ballot | ballot in which candidates are arranged by party rather than office. Encourages straight ticket voting. |
| Photo opportunity | a staged campaign event that attracts favorable visual media coverage, e.g., a candidate reading to a group of school children. |
| Pluralism | theory that policy making is the result of interest group competition. |
| Political Action Committee (PAC) | an interest group that raises funds and donates to election campaigns. |
| Patronage | appointing loyal party members to government positions. |
| Revolving door | the cycle in which a person alternately works for the public sector and private sector, thus blurring the individual’s sense of loyalty. |
| Selective exposure | the practice of selectively choosing media sources which are in harmony with one’s own beliefs. |
| Selective perception | the practice of perceiving media messages the way one wants to. |
| Sound bite | a short, pithy comment that is likely to attract media attention, e.g., Ronald Reagan saying, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose your job, and recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job.” |
| Spin control | placing a certain slant on a story to deflect negative public attention against a candidate or office holder. |
| Unit rule | an abandoned rule of the Democratic Party national convention in which the candidate with the most delegates from a state won all of that state’s convention votes. |
| Attentive Public | those who follow politics and public affairs carefully |
| Australian Ballot | secret ballot printed at the expense of the state |
| balancing the ticket | occurs when a presidential nominee chooses a vice presidential running mate who has different qualities in order to attract more votes for the ticket |
| Blanket Primary | election to choose candidates that is open to independents, and allows voters to choose candidates from all parties |
| Caucus | local party meeting |
| closed primary | party election to choose candidates that is closed to independents. voters may not cross party lines |
| coattail effect | the influence of a popular presidential candidate on the election of congressional candidates of the same party |
| demographics | characteristics of population e.g, race, sex, income. |
| direct election | election of an official directly by the people rather than by an intermediary group such as the electoral college |
| direct primary | election in which the people choose candidates to office |
| fixed terms | terms of office that have a definite length of time, e.g, two years a member of a house |
| front loading | scheduling presidential primary elections early (e.g, February or March) in an election year |
| Gender gap | difference in voting patterns for men and women, particularly in the greater tendency of the latter to vote for democratic presidential candidates |
| general election | election in which the officeholders are chosen. contrast with a primary election, in which only the candidates are chosen |
| Hard money | campaign contributions donated directly to candidates |
| Ideology | set of beliefs about political values and the role of the government |
| Incumbent | an officeholder who is seeking reelection |
| Independent | one is not registered with apolitical party. Independent learners tend to vote for candidates of one particular party, whereas pure independents have no consistent pattern of party doing |
| issue advocacy ads | ads that focus on issues and do not explicitly encourage citizens to vote for a certain candidate |
| open primary | election to choose candidates that is open independents, and in which voters may choose candidates from any one party |
| party platform | a list of positions and programs that the party adopts at the national convention. Each position is called a plank |
| plurality | more voters than anyone else, but less than half, e.g, Clinton won a plurality (43%) of popular votes in 1992, but no majority. Plurality elections such as those for congress are won by the person with the most votes, regardless if he/she has a majority |
| Realigning ("critical") election | an election in which there is a long term change in party alignment, e.g., 1932 |
| safe seat | an office that is extremely likely to be won by a particular candidate or political party |
| single member district system | system in which the people elect one representative per district. with a winner-take-all rule, this system strengthens the two major parties and weaken minor parties |
| soft money | campaign contributions that are not donated directly to candidates, but are instead donated to parties |
| Suffrage | the right to vote |
| superdelegate | a delegate to the democratic national convention who is there by virtue of holding an office |
| super Tuesday | a Tuesday in early March in which many presidential primaries, particularly in the South, are held. |
| Swing State | a state that does not consistently vote either Democratic or republican in presidential elections |
Created by:
Rmenendez12
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