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Gov unit 5 vocab
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Political participation | Different ways in which people take action to shape the laws and policies in government |
| Political action committee (PAC) | Organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns |
| Linkage institution | Channels that connect people with government M.I.P.E.(Media, Interest groups, Political parties, Elections) |
| Social movement | Joining of people seeking change with the goal of placing issues on policy agenda |
| Franchise/Suffrage | Right to vote |
| Poll tax | Payment required by a state or federal government for someone to vote |
| 24th Amendment | Outlawed poll taxes for federal elections |
| 26th Amendment | Allows people eighteen and older to vote |
| Voter turnout | Number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a % of the total number of eligible voters |
| Demographic characteristics | Measurable characteristics of a population |
| Socioeconomic status (SES) | Measure of a person's wealth, income, occupation, and educational attainment |
| Political efficacy | Person's belief that they can make political change |
| Political mobilization | Political parties encouraging their members to vote |
| Registration requirements | A set of rules that dictate whether or not and how a person can vote |
| Absentee ballot | Voting submitted before the day of an election without going to the polls |
| Rational choice voting | Voting based on a person's best interest |
| Retrospective voting | Voting based on an incumbent's past performance |
| Prospective voting | Voting based on future policies a candidate promises |
| Party-line voting | Voting for candidates from only one political party for the entire ballot |
| Electoral College | Constitutionally required process for electing the president through electors chosen in each state who are pledged to vote for a candidate in the presidential election |
| Winner-take-all system | System of elections where the candidate who wins the most votes within a state gets all of the state's electoral votes |
| Battleground state | State where the polls show a close contest between the Democrat and Republican candidates |
| Swing state | State where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing between Democrat and Republican |
| Get out the vote (GOTV) | Efforts to mobilize supporters |
| Super PAC | Organization that can spend unlimited money on a campaign as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign |
| Political party | Organized group of party leaders, officeholders, and voters, that work together to elect candidates |
| Party identification | Degree to which a voter is connected with a political party |
| Straight-ticket voting | Voting for candidates from one political party for an entire ballot |
| Split-ticket voting | Voting for candidates from different political parties in the same election |
| Party platform | Set of positions and policy objectives that members of a party agree to |
| Recruitment | Process where political parties identify potential candidates |
| Party coalition | Groups of voters who support a political party over time |
| Realignment | Groups of voters who support a political party switch their support to another party |
| Critical election | Major national election that signals change in the balance of power between the two parties |
| Party era | Time period where one party wins most national elections |
| Era of divided government | Trend where one party controls one or both houses of Congress and the president is from the opposing party |
| Nomination | Formal process where parties choose their candidates for office |
| Delegate | Person who acts as the voters' representative at a convention to choose the party's presidential nominee |
| Primary election | Election where a state's voters choose delegates who support a candidate for nomination |
| Open primary | Primary where all eligible voters can vote |
| Closed primary | Primary where only voters registered with a political party can vote |
| Caucus | Process where a state's eligible voters meet to choose delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process |
| Superdelegate | Usually a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the state's primary or caucus |
| Front-loading | Decision by a state to push its primary or caucus to a date as early in the season as possible to be more influential in the nomination process |
| National convention | Meeting where delegates officially select their party's nominee for the presidency |
| Candidate-centered campaign | Trend where candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the elite |
| Two-party system | System where two political parties dominate politics and win almost all elections |
| Proportional representation system | Election system for a legislature where citizens vote for parties rather than individuals and parties are represented in the legislature according to the % of the vote they receive |
| Single-member plurality system | Election system for choosing members of the legislature where the winner is the candidate who gets the most votes, even if they do not get the majority of the votes |
| Third party | Minor political party in competition with the two major parties |
| Interest groups | Associations of people who come together with the goal of enacting policies |
| Social movements | Diffuse groups that educate the public and pressure policymakers to bring change |
| Theory of participatory democracy | Belief that citizens impact policymaking through their involvement in civil society |
| Civil society | Groups outside the government that advocate for policy |
| Pluralist theory | Theory that political power is distributed among many competing groups so that no one group gets too powerful |
| Elitist theory | Theory that wealthy elites have a disproportionate amount of power in government |
| Policy agenda | Set of issues that government officials, voters, and the public are paying attention to |
| Collective action | Political action that happens when people contribute their energy, time, or money to a larger goal |
| Collective good | (Public good) Public benefit that people can enjoy or profit from even if they did not help achieve it |
| Free riders | People that enjoy the benefits of the actions of an interest group without joining |
| Selective benefits | Benefits available only to people who join the group |
| Economic interest groups | Groups advocating for the financial interests of their members |
| Public interest groups | Groups acting for the collective interests of a broad group of people |
| Single-issue groups | Associations focusing on one specific area of public policy |
| Government interest groups | Organizations acting for local, state, or foreign governments |
| Lobbying | Interacting with government officials to advance a group's public policy goals |
| Revolving door | Movement of people between positions in government and lobbying positions |
| Amicus curiae brief | Brief filed by someone who is not a party in a case to persuade the Court to agree with their arguments |
| Iron triangle | Mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to get shared policy goals |
| Issue network | Webs of influence between interest groups, policy makers, and policy advocates |
| Grassroots lobbying | Mobilizing interest group members to pressure their representatives by contacting them directly |
| Protest | Public demonstration made to call attention to the need for change |
| Civil disobedience | Intentionally breaking a law to call attention to its injustice |
| News media | Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social media posts that cover important events |
| Social media | Forms of electronic communication that enable users to participate in social networking |
| Agenda setting | Media's ability to call attention to certain issues |
| Mass media | Sources of information made to reach a wide audience |
| Wire service | Organization that gathers and reports on news and sells the stories to other outlets |
| Investigative journalism | Approach to newsgathering where reporters dig into stories, often looking for wrongdoings |
| Broadcast media | Outlets for news and other content like radio and TV that brings stories directly to people's homes |
| Media consolidation | Concentration of media ownership into fewer corporations |
| Partisan bias | Slanting of political news coverage in support of a particular party or ideology |
| Horse-race journalism | Coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on drama than policy issues |
Created by:
hanw