click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
R. Castro GOPO Un.2
GOPO unit 2
Question | Answer |
---|---|
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 |
caucus | local party meeting |
closed primary | party elections to choose presidential candidate that is closed to independents. |
Demographics | characteristics of populations 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 for offices |
fixed term | terms of office that have a definite length of time e.g 4 yrs for president |
front loading | scheduling presidential primary elections early in the election year |
gender gap | difference in voting patterns for men and women, particularly n the greater tendency of the latter to vote 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 to candidates |
ideology | set of beliefs about political values and the role of government |
incumbent | officeholder who is seeking reelection |
independent | one is not registered with a political party. |
Independent learners | vote for candidates of 1 party |
pure independents | voters with no consistent pattern of part voting |
issue advocacy ads | ads that focus on issues and do no explicitly encourage citizens to vote for a certain candidate. |
open primary | election to chose candidates that open to independents and in which voters may choose candidates from any one party. |
party identification | a sense of affiliation that a person has with a particular political party |
party platform | list of positions and programs that the party adopts at the national convention. each position = a PLANK |
political culture | widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that citizens share about their government. |
plurality | more votes than anyone else, but less than half, e.g clinton won a plurality (43%) but not majority. plurality elections such as those for congress are won by the person with the most votes, regardless if he/she has a majority |
political efficacy | capacity to understand and influence political events |
political socialization | process in which one acquires his/her political beliefs |
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 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 weakens minor parties. |
soft money | |
solid South | historically, the south voted solidly Democratic. however, the South is now strongly Republican: Bush carried every Southern state in 2000. |
split ticket voting | casting votes for candidates of one's own party and for candidates of opposing parties, e.g., voting for a Republican presidential candidates and a Democratic congressional candidate. |
straight ticket voting | casting votes only for candidates of one's own party |
suffrage | the right to vote |
super-delegate | 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 states | states that does not consistently vote either Democratic or Republican in presidential elections. |