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Gov College Final
Study! Study! Study!
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What did the founding fathers think about parties? How quickly did we get parties? | The Founding Fathers distrusted parties, seeing them as dangerous factions that could divide the republic. Despite this, parties emerged almost immediately in the 1790s with Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. |
| What is the first function of parties? What is a long coalition? What are their goals? | Parties build long collations, durable alliances across elections that unite diverse groups under one banner. Their goal is to win elections by aggregating enough interests to form a majority. |
| What is the second function of parties? What are some aspects of it? | Parties structure government by controlling leadership positions, committees, and legislative agendas. This coordination ensures stability and efficiency in policymaking. |
| What is the third function of parties? What does it mean to be a heuristic or identity? | Parties act as heuristics, giving voters a shortcut to understand complex issues without deep research. They also provide identity, shaping how people see themselves politically. |
| What is the fourth function of parties? What is an Intense Policy Demander? | Parties channel activists and interest groups who care deeply about specific issues. These intense policy demanders push parties to adopt positions that reflect their priorities. |
| How do the parties “flip” in terms of issues/coalitions in the 1960s? | Democrats embraced civil rights, causing many white Southern conservatives to shift to the Republican Party. This realignment reshaped coalitions, linking Democrats with racial liberalism and Republicans with conservatism. |
| What is Duverger’s Law? How does it explain our two-party system? | Duverger’s Law states that single-member, winner-take-all elections naturally produce two dominant parties. Voters avoid “wasting” votes on third parties, reinforcing the two-party system. |
| What are some other major disadvantages third parties face? Can they ever succeed? | Third parties face ballot access restrictions, lack of funding, and exclusion from debates. They rarely win nationally but can succeed locally or influence major party platforms. |
| What is ideological polarization? Is it happening among the public? | Ideological polarization is when people or groups move further apart in their policy preferences, especially left vs. right. Among the public, it has increased somewhat, but elites are far more polarized than average citizens. |
| How have political elites polarized? What is “asymmetric” polarization? | Political elites have polarized sharply, with Democrats and Republicans in Congress voting more consistently along party lines. “Asymmetric” polarization means one party (Republicans) has shifted further right than the other has shifted left. |
| What is coalitional polarization? What’s the difference between sorting and polarization? | occurs when party coalitions become more distinct and less overlapping in their member groups. Sorting means people’s identities align more consistently with their party, while polarization means their actual policy views grow further apart. |
| What is ideological sorting? Demographic sorting? Geographic sorting? Examples? | Ideological sorting is when people’s issue positions match their party’s platform more closely. Demographic sorting ties social identities like race or religion to parties, while geographic sorting shows regional divides. |
| What is affective polarization? Examples of its change over time? | Affective polarization is when people dislike and distrust the opposing party, not just disagree on issues. Over time, surveys show rising hostility, with partisans viewing the other side as immoral or dangerous rather than just wrong. |
| What are some consequences of polarization? | Polarization reduces compromise, increases gridlock, and undermines trust in institutions. It also fuels negative partisanship, where people vote more to oppose the other side than to support their own. |
| How did interest groups contribute to polarization? | Interest groups contributed by pushing parties toward more extreme positions to secure policy commitments. Their lobbying and funding reinforced ideological divides and rewarded polarization. |
| How did elected officials contribute to polarization? | Elected officials polarized by adopting more partisan rhetoric and refusing cross-party cooperation. They also redistricted strategically, creating safer seats that encouraged ideological purity over moderation. |
| What are some other, later causes of polarization? | Later causes include partisan media, social media echo chambers, and nationalized politics where local issues are framed in national partisan terms. Rising cultural divides over race, religion, and identity further deepened polarization. |
| What is the difference between operational and symbolic ideology? | Operational ideology refers to people’s actual policy preferences on issues like taxes or healthcare. Symbolic ideology is the label they identify with (liberal, conservative), which often doesn’t perfectly match their operational views. |
| How often are moderates “moderate”? Why is this sometimes hard to tell? | Moderates are not always consistently “moderate” because they may hold liberal views on some issues and conservative views on others. This is hard to tell since survey responses often mask cross-cutting attitudes behind a single “moderate” label. |
| What are the moral foundations? How do they differ across partisans? !!!!!!!!! | Their are 6 core tenets that have to do how we relate to each other. liberal is accountability and conservative is about accountability and community |
| What factors explain where our partisanship and attitudes generally come from? | Partisanship and attitudes come from socialization (family, peers, religion), demographics (race, class, gender), and geography. Media exposure and elite cues also shape how people interpret and reinforce their political identities. |
| What is the R-A-S model? How does it explain our attitudes? !!!!!!!!!! | The model explains how people form opinions: they receive information, accept it if it fits their predispositions, and sample from those considerations when answering surveys. This shows why attitudes can appear inconsistent by recent messages. |
| What is motivated reasoning? The backfire effect? How hard is it to persuade others? | Motivated reasoning is when people process information in a biased way to defend their preexisting beliefs. The backfire effect occurs when attempts to correct misinformation actually strengthen false beliefs, making persuasion very difficult. |
Created by:
Knjcooks