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1 UNIT 2 VOCAB
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Political Parties | a group of persons who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office. |
| Partisanship | Government action based on firm allegiance to a political party. |
| Minor Party | one of the political parties not widely supported. |
| Bipartisan | supported by two parties |
| Consensus | general agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions. |
| Incumbent | the current officeholder. |
| Faction | a conflicting group. |
| Electorate | all of the people entitled to vote in a given election. |
| Sectionalism | a narrow-minded concern for, devotion to, the intrests of one section of a country. |
| Splinter Parties | parties that have split away from one of the major parties. |
| Split Ticket Voting | voting for a candidates of different parties for different offices at the same election. |
| Suffrage | the right to vote |
| Gerrymandering | the drawing of electoral district lines to the advantage of a party or group. |
| Independent | a term used to describe people who have no party affiliations |
| Political Socializing | the process by which the people gain their political attitudes and opinions. |
| Direct Primary | an election held within a party to pick that party's candidates for the general election. |
| Closed Primary | a party nominating election in which only declared party members can vote. |
| Ballot | the device voters use to register a choice in an election. |
| Political Action Committee | the political extension of special interest groups which have a major stake in public policy. |
| Hard Money | campaign money that is subject to rehulations by the FEC. |
| Soft Money | money given to state and local party organizations for voting-related activites. |
| Public Affairs | those events and issues that concern the people at large, e.g., politics, public issues, and the making of public policies |
| Mass Media | those means of communication that reach large audiences, espically televisons, radio, printed publications, and the internet. |
| Quota Sample | a sample deliberately constructed to reflect several of the major characteristics of a given population. |
| Sample | a representative slice of the poll |
| Public Opinion Poll | devices that attempt to collect information by asking people questions. |
| Public Policy | all of the many goals that a govenrment persues in all of the many areas of human affairs in which it is invovled. |
| Labor Union | an organization of workers who share the same type of job, or who work in the same industry, and press for government policies that will benefit their members. |
| Propaganda | a technique of persuasion aimed at influencing individual or group behaviors to create a particular belief, requadless of its validity. |
| Lobbying | activites by which group pressures are brought to bear on legislators, the legislative process, and all aspects of the public-policy-making process. |