AP US Government 4.1 - 4.10

Medicaid

A federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources.

Bonds

A fixed-income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate or governmental).

Agenda

A list of subjects or problems (issues) to which government officials as well as individuals outside the government are paying serious attention to at any given time.

Supply Side Economics

A macroeconomic theory that postulates economic growth can be most effectively fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing regulation, and allowing free trade.

Populist

A member of a political party claiming to represent the common people, often juxtapose this group against "the elite" or "the establishment"

Random Sampling

A method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same chance of being selected.

Medicare

A national program that subsidizes healthcare services for anyone 65 or older, younger people with specific eligibility criteria, and people with certain diseases.

Conservative

A person who believes in government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom.

Wedge Issues

A political or social issue, often of a controversial or divisive nature, which splits apart a demographic or population group.

Libertarian

A political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core principle. Seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, emphasizing free association, freedom of choice, individualism and voluntary association.

Political Culture

A set of shared views and normative judgments held by a population regarding its political system

Monetary Policy

A set of tools that a nation's central bank has available to promote sustainable economic growth by controlling the overall supply of money that is available to the nation's banks, its consumers, and its businesses.

Focus Groups

A small group of voters chosen by a political campaign for their demographic similarities who are brought together to gauge how the group they represent feels about the candidate.

Ideology

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

Random-digit Dialing

A technique used by pollsters to play telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey.

Bradley Effect

A theory concerning observed discrepancies between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in some United States government elections where a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other.

Limited Government

A theory of governance in which the government only has those powers delegated to it by law, often through a written constitution.

Laissez-faire

A theory that says the government should not intervene in the economy except to protect individuals' inalienable rights.

Majoritarian

A traditional political philosophy or agenda that asserts that a majority of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society.

Mandatory Spending

All spending that does not take place through appropriations legislation

New Deal Coalition

American political coalition that supported the Democratic Party from 1932 until the late 1960s. The coalition is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's programs and was composed of voting blocs who supported Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression.

Social Security Act

An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws.

Free Enterprise

An economic system in which private business operates in competition and largely free of state control.

Moderate

An ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views.

Valence Issues

An issue about which the public is united and rival candidates or political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that they each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs

Entitlements

Any government-provided or government-managed benefit or service to which some or all individuals are entitled by law - Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment and Welfare Programs.

Generational Effects

Describes how a cohort of people born at a certain time are different from another cohort of people born at a different time

Great Depression

Economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939

Sampling Error

Error in a statistical analysis arising from the unrepresentativeness of the sample taken.

Lifecycle Effects

Fluctuations in political beliefs that can occur as a result of life events that commonly occur at particular points in a typical lifespan.

Silent Generation

Generally defined as people born from 1928 to 1945

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Health care reform legislation signed into law by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama in March 2010, which included provisions that required most individuals to secure health insurance or pay fines, made coverage easier and less costly to obtain, cracked down on abusive insurance practices, and attempted to rein in the rising costs of health care.

Push Polling

Interactive marketing technique, most commonly employed during political campaigning, in which an individual or organization attempts to manipulate or alter prospective voters' views under the guise of conducting an opinion poll.

Federal Reserve Board

Is the central bank of the United States and arguably the most powerful financial institution in the world.

Political Socialization

Lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values.

Progressive Movement

Movement was a turn-of-the-century political movement interested in furthering social and political reform, curbing political corruption caused by political machines, and limiting the political influence of large corporations

Non-response Bias

Occurs when non-responders from a sample differ in a meaningful way to responders (type of bias if you still don't know dumbo)

Great Recession

One of the worst economic declines in US history, officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. The collapse of the housing market — fueled by low interest rates, easy credit, insufficient regulation, and toxic subprime mortgages — led to the economic crisis.

Social Welfare

Organized public or private social services for the assistance of disadvantaged groups

Liberal

Political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law. Progressive and fan of government intervention for equality.

Individualism

Political and social philosophy that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual.

Exit Polls

Poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations

Bandwagon Effect

Psychological phenomenon in which people do something primarily because other people are doing it, regardless of their own beliefs

Inflation

Refers to a general progressive increase in prices of goods and services in an economy. (could also refer to decreasing purchasing power of a certain currency)

Social Desirability Bias

Tendency to underreport socially undesirable attitudes and behaviors and to over report more desirable attributes.

Rule of Law

The authority and influence of law in society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional behavior; the principle whereby all members of a society (including those in government) are considered equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes.

Baby Boomers

The demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is generally defined as people born from 1946 to 1964.

Iraq Invasion

The first stage of the Iraq War.

Millennials

The generation of Americans born between the mid 1980s and the early 2000s.

Generation X

The generation of Americans born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s

Equality of Opportunity

The idea that people ought to be able to compete on equal terms, or on a "level playing field," for advantaged offices and positions.

Discount Rate

The interest rate charged to commercial banks and other financial institutions for short-term loans they take from the Federal Reserve Bank

Approval Rating

The percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who express approval of someone or something, typically a political figure.

Internal Revenue Services (IRS)

The revenue service of the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax law.

Fiscal Policy

The use of government revenue collection and expenditure to influence a country's economy.

Tracking Polls

Type of poll repeated periodically with the same group of people to check and measure changes of opinion or knowledge.