| Flap 1 |
Flap 2 |
| bipartisan | supported by two parties; two parties acting together and cooperating when making decisions. |
| coalition | a temporary alliance of several groups who come together to form a majority to control the government. |
| incumbent | the person currently holding the office |
| factions | different opinions from the rest of the group |
| sectionalism | a narrow-minded concern for the interests on one's own section of a country |
| major parties | the main parties Republican and Democrat |
| partisanship | a firm allegiance to a political party |
| party in power | the party who controls the executive branch (the President's party) |
| minor party | one of the political parties that is not widely supported |
| plurality | in an election, the most number of votes (does not have to be a majority - over 50%) |
| pluralistic society | a society that consists of several distinct cultures and groups. |
| ward | a unit that cities are divided into for the election of city council members. |
| franchise | another name for suffrage or the right to vote. |
| transient | a person living in a state for only a short time, without legal residence. |
| registration | signing people up to vote; a procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. |
| purge | the process of reviewing lists of registered voters and removing the names of those no longer eligible to vote. |
| poll books | lists of all registered voters in each precinct. |
| gerrymandering | the drawing of electoral district lines to the advantage of a party or group |
| injunction | a court order that forces or limits the performance of some act by a person. |
| preclearance | mandated by the voting Rights Act of 1965; the prior approval by the Justice Dept. of changes to or new election laws by certain states. |
| off-year election | congressional election that occurs between presidential years. |
| gender gap | measurable differences between the partisan choices of men and women. |
| party identification | the way a person identifies with the beliefs and concerns of their party. |
| straight ticket voting | voting for candidates of only one party in an election. |
| split ticket voting | voting for candidates of different parties for different offices in the same election. |
| nonpartisan election | elections in which candidates are not identified by party labels. |
| precinct | the smallest division of a voting place. |
| polling place | the place where the voters who live in a certain precinct go to vote. |
| ballot | the paper or card that you submit your votes on. |
| subsidy | a grant of money, usually from the government |
| hard money | campaign money that is subject to regulations by the Federal Election Committee |
| public affairs | those events and issues that concern the people at large - politics, public issues, making public policy. |
| peer group | the group of your friends, co-workers, classmates, neighbors |
| opinion leader | any person who has an unusually strong influence on the view of others (could be a talk show host) |
| mandate | the instructions or commands a constituency gives to its elected officials |
| public opinion poll | device that attempts to collect information by asking people questions. |
| random sample | a certain number of randomly selected people who represent a population. |
| quota sample | a sample deliberately constructed to reflect several of the major characteristics of a given population (made up of same percentages as population) |
| medium | newpapers, TV, radio, communications |
| public agenda | the public issues on which the people's attention is focused. |
| sound bite | a sharply focused short report that can be aired in roughly 30 to 40 seconds. |
| public policy | all the goals the government sets and the various courses of action it pursues as it attempts to realize these goals. |
| trade association | interest grops withing the business community |
| labor union | an organization of workers who share the same type of job and press for governement policies that will benefit them. |
| public interest group | an interest group that seeks to institute certain public policies of benefit to all or most people, regardless if they beong to that group. |
| propaganda | a technique of persuasion aimed at influencing a particular belief, regardless of its validity. |
| single-interest group | political action committee (PAC) that concentrates its efforts exclusively on one issue. |
| lobbying | activities by which a group pressures the legislature to make public policy that the lobbyists want |
| grass roots | of or from the people; the average voters. |
| blanket primary | a voting process in which voters receive a long ballot containing the names of all contendors regardless of the party, and they can vote however they choose. |
| closed primary | a party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote. |
| coattail effect | the effect of a strong candidate running for an office at the top of a ballot helping to attract voters to other candidates on the party's ticket. |
| consensus | general agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; agreement on public questions. |
| division of powers | basic principle of federalism; the constitution provides for governmental powers are divided between the national and state government. |
| economic protest parties | parties rooted in poor economic times, disatisfied twith |
| ideological parties | parties based on a particular set of beliefs on social, economic, and political matters. |
| independents | people who have no party affilitation |
| multiparty | a system in which several major and many lesser parties exist and compete for public offices. |
| one-party system | a political system with only one party |
| open primary | a party nominating election in which any qualified voter can take part. |
| political action committee | PAC - the political etension of special-interest groups that have a major stake in pulic policy. |
| political efficacy | one's own influence over politics. |
| political party | a group of persons who seek to control government through winning elections and holding public office. |
| political socialization | the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions |
| poll tax | a special tax that used to be demanded by states as a condition of voting. |
| public opinion | the complex collection of the opinions of many differnent people. |
| runoff primary | a primary in which the top two vote-getters in the first direct primary face one another. |
| sample | a representative slice of the total universe or population. |
| suffrage | the right to vote |
| two-party system | a political system dominated by two major parties. |
