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AP Gov Unit 2 Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| attentive public | those who follow politics and public affairs carefully. |
| balancing the ticket | occurs when a presidential nominee chooses a vice president running mate who has different qualities in order to attract more votes for the ticket. |
| 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 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 (e.g., February or March) 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 the government. |
| Incumbent | an officeholder who is seeking reelection. |
| Independent | one is not registered with a political party. Independent leaners tend to vote for candidates of one particular 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 national 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, |
| Political efficacy | capacity to understand and influence political events |
| Political socialization | process in which one acquires his/her political belief |
| 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 are instead donated to parties. |
| Solid South | historically, the South voted solidly Democratic. However, the South is now strongly Republican |
| 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 of the presidential primaries, particularly in the South, are held |
| Swing State | a state does not consistently vote either Democratic or Republican in presidential elections. |