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AP Government Unit 4
Test and Exam Review
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Polling Universe | large group-whose opinion is being measured |
| Polling Sample | the people in the polling universe who are actually polled |
| Margin of Error | predicted degree of accuracy +/- (the lower the MOE the better) and what it means to be “Within the margin error” |
| Issue Saliency | importance of an issue to voters and how much that issue will affect their vote |
| Political Socialization | process through which people form/develop their political opinions; agents of socialization: family, schools, community, peers, media, historical events (key events affect different generations) |
| Voter Turnout | Percentage of eligible voters who actually vote |
| Political Efficacy | Degree to which a person believes their political participation makes a difference |
| Disenfranchised | when people can’t vote because of legal limitations- such as being convicted of a felony |
| Structural Barriers | registration requirements/30 days prior to the election-1 day work day voting-reduced polling places |
| Demographic Factors | Group statistics of WHO VOTES MOST OFTEN VS. WHO VOTES LESS) RACE/ETHNICITY; AGE; INCOME; EDUCATION (The level of formal education is the best single indicator of whether a person will vote or not.) |
| Electoral Realignment | occurs when the sharp change in voting becomes long-lasting |
| Critical Election | occurs when sharp change in voting patterns occurs |
| Dealignment | when party identification decreases and more people say they are independent; weakening of the party identification/increase of independents |
| Straight Ticket Voting | voting for candidates of only one party (most people who identify with a party do this) |
| Split Ticket Voting | voters vote for candidates of more than one party (indicator of dealignment) |
| Limited Ballot Access | MINOR PARTY CANDIDATES ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY ON ELECTION BALLOTS-THEY HAVE GET PETITIONS SIGNED-TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY-PUTS THEM AT AN IMMEDIATE DISADVANTAGE |
| Limited Debate Access | MINOR PARTY CANDIDATES ARE SELDOM INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN DEBATES-SEND THE MESSAGE THAT THEY ARE NOT REALLY LEGITIMATE AND THEY ALSO DON’T RECEIVE THAT FREE TV TIME. |
| Single Member Districts | (aka First to the Post) candidate who receives the most votes wins-only 1 candidate can win-tends to support the 2 major parties-makes it hard for minor parties. |
| Spoiler Effect | Often voters want to support a minor party candidate-but won’t, fearing they will help the candidate they like the least to win |
| Prospective Voting | forward looking-based on campaign promises |
| Retrospective Voting | based on a candidate's past/record-using their past to judge whether they will be effective or not; RETROSPECTIVE DESCRIBES MOST VOTERS |
| Primary Election | arty elections used to nominate candidates or in the presidential nomination process (used to determine the number of party convention delegates a candidate receives from a state) |
| General Election | elections in which voters select who will hold elected office |
| Open Primary | any registered voter can vote in either party’s primary |
| Closed Primary | only registered party members can vote in a party’s primary |
| Media Events | campaign events designed to attract news media coverage |
| Earned Media | free news media coverage-very significant in both the 2016 and 2020 elections |
| Focus Groups | Small groups of people (often potential voters): designed to get more in-depth information about public opinion. Often looking for “Hot-Button” issues. |
| Hot Button Issues | Things voters react strongly to |
| Financial Disclosure | legal requirements regarding information (that must be available to the public) concerning campaign contributions and spending |
| Hard Money | regulated/limited campaign contributions (those given to candidates and political parties directly) |
| Soft Money | less regulated and often unlimited campaign contributions |
| Independent Expenditure | spent by individuals and groups, not coordinated with a particular candidate’s campaign or political party (spending/contributing money); increasing and are allowed to be unlimited and unregulated) |
| Super PACs | a type of independent political action committee which may raise unlimited sums of money (independent expenditure) from corporations, unions, & individuals; not permitted to contribute to or coordinate spending directly with parties/candidates/campaigns. |
| Buckley vs Valeo | Supreme Court case that first linked spending money for political purposes with the Freedom of Speech. Struck down limits on one type of independent expenditures (what a candidate could spend on their own campaign) |
| Citizens United vs FEC | ruled limits on Independent Expenditures are unconstitutional; expanded free speech rights to corporations and labor unions (“corporate personhood”); led to the creation of SuperPacs |
| Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Law) aka BCRA | tried to limit independent expenditure close to elections (limited electioneering ads/communications close to primaries or general election) |
| McConnell vs FEC | supreme court upheld the bipartisan campaign reform act which maintained the limits on hard money contributions and also added limits on independent expenditure (electioneering ads/communications) close to primaries and elections |
| Horse Race Journalism | news media (especially TV-tends to focus on polls/who is winning who is losing)-has led to less coverage of issues and more on polls-personality etc.. |
| Gatekeeping Function | TV news selects the stories they will cover; as result the public thinks those issues are important (agenda setting) |
| Watchdog Function | investigative journalism-monitoring how the government carries out policies/also investigates possible acts of corruption |
| Free Rider Problem | people can benefit from the policy work of an interest group without joining an interest group. -Makes it hard for interest groups to increase their membership-(Leads to interest groups offering benefits to join) |
| Direct Lobbying | interest groups hire lobbyists to meet with elected officials and their staff to influence public policy (lobbyists often help write legislation providing important information) |
| Grassroots Lobbying | organized attempts to influence public opinion, the opinions of constituents (especially voters) in hopes they will influence their legislators/executive (elected officials) |
| Litigation Strategy | using the courts, especially the Supreme Court, rather than legislative/executive branches to change public policy (ex. brown v board of education/roe v wade) |
| Amicus Curiae Briefs | arguments presented to courts from groups not directly involved in a case; interest groups can submit legal arguments in favor of one of the positions being argued before the Supreme Court |
| Coalition Building | INTERESTS GROUPS COMBINING (WORKING TOGETHER) FOR COMMON GOALS. |
| Iron Triangle | Interaction between Interest Groups, Executive Branch, and Legislative Branch. |
| Revolving Door | Movement of personnel between interest groups and government. |
| Issue Network | refers to the individuals and groups who try to influence the public policy process. |
| Party Centered Nomination Process | the idea that in the past party leaders/party establishment dominated the nomination process |
| Candidate Centered Nomination Process | the idea that today party leaders/party establishment have much less control over the nomination process |
| Issue Centered Campaigns | he idea that campaigns in the past focused on the issue differences between candidates and political parties, key is these were substance based campaigns |
| Candidate Centered Campaigns | the idea that today campaigns tend to focus less on issues and substance and more on other characteristics of the candidates |
| Random Polling | ESSENTIAL FOR A POLL TO BE ACCURATE-all members of the polling universe have an equal chance of being part of the sample |
| Primary Effect | WHAT IS LEARNED FIRST IS LEARNED BEST: MOST LIKELY TO STICK WITH YOU |
| Structuring Effect | WHAT YOU LEARN FIRST-FILTERS FUTURE INFORMATION |
| Conventional Political Participation | Mainstream participation-voting, campaigning, running for office etc; people with high political efficacy |
| Unconventional Political Participation | non mainstream-not typical: participation in protests, boycotts- in some political systems could include acts of terrorism; people with low political efficacy |
| Initiative | voters can put legislation on the ballot |
| Referendum | voters can vote legislation into law |
| Recall | voters can remove elected officials from office before the end of their term |
| Direct Primary | allows voters to select the candidates for political office |
| Apathy | when people do not vote because they have no interest or have lost interest in politics |
| Alienation | when people don't vote because they feel hostility toward the political process |
| Rational Choice Voting | voting based on the voters perceived interest |
| Party-line Voter | voting for members of only one party |
| Limited Fundraising | LACK FUNDING-FEW PEOPLE CONTRIBUTE TO MINOR PARTIES BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT LIKELY TO WIN-LIMITS THEIR ABILITY TO TRAVEL, RUN ADVERTISING, HIRE STAFF ETC |
| Proportional Voting | TYPING OF ELECTION IN WHICH PARTIES RECEIVE “SEATS” BASED ON THEIR PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULAR VOTE |
| Rank Choice Voting | VOTERS TYPICALLY RANK THEIR TOP THREE CHOICES IN A MULTI-CANDIDATE FIELD. IF THEIR FIRST CHOICE HAS THE LESS VOTES-VOTERS CHOICE SHIFTS TO THEIR SECOND CHOICE;ALLOW VOTERS TO VOTE FOR MINOR PARTY CANDIDATES WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT THE SPOILER EFFECT |
| Caucus | informal meetings of party members used to nominate candidates (BALLOT IS NOT SECRET) |
Created by:
rcooke
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