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Political Beliefs/Political Behaviors
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Attentative 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 voters for the ticket |
| Blanket Primary | election to choose candidates that is open to independents, and that allows voters to choose candidates from all the 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 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 office |
| Fixed Terms | terms of office that have a definite length of time, e.g., two years for a member of the House |
| Front Loading | scheduling presidential primary elections early 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 government |
| Incumbent | an officeholder who is seeking reelection |
| Independent | one who is not registered with a political party. independent leaners tend to vote for candidates of one particualr party, whereas pure independents have no consistent pattern of party voting |
| 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 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 | a list of positions and programs that the party adopts at the nation convention. each position is called a plank |
| Political Culture | the widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that citizens share about their government |
| Plurality | more votes than anyone else, but less than half. plurality elections such as those for Congress are won by the person with the most votes, regardless if she/he has a majority |
| Political Efficacy | capacity to understand and influence political events |
| Political Socialization | process in which one acquires their political beliefs |
| Realigning Election | an election in which there is a long term change in party alignment |
| 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 weakens minor parties |
| Soft Money | campaign contributions that are not donated directly to candidates, but they are instead donated to parties |
| 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 |
| Straight Ticket Voting | casting votes only for candidates of one's party |
| 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 of Republican in presidential elections |