AP Gov midterm exam study guide

National Voter Registration Act

"Motor voter Act" Required states to allow voters to register when they get their driver's license

Presidential elections: winning the nomination

"primary and caucus" process Candidates often go from obscurity to popular attention and back to obscurity Primary process - it's not winner take all... delegates are awarded proportionally(not a winner take all... you don't get every delegate per state even if you win the state like electoral college mostly does.... you get ex. 6/10 delegates in a state if you win 60% of votes) - caucus is also part of primary, just instead of a ballot - in order to win, you must win majority of delegates Role of media in campaigns - candidate does something to generate media attention - media picks up on someone going viral, etc; this signals voters to pay attention to that candidate bc they must be important if the media is telling them to pay attention Momentum/bandwagon: sometimes candidates come from obscurity, become popular, don't return to obscurity(ex. Obama) After you win the nomination/primary process, then you have to go win the general election

Blanket/Jungle primary

(Alaska, CA, Louisiana) registered Dem, Indep, Repub all vote on same ballot; top two vote-getters from this primary run against each other This could lead to two Repub running against each other Alaska: voters rank candidates, so automatic runoff

What it takes for poll to be good

1) random sample 2) sample size that allows research to be accurate 3) sample error- needs to be included or it looks suspicious(the larger the better) 4) question wording- avoiding biased questions 5) reliable respondents- how do you ensure the answers are reliable, not just socially acceptable... helps to have anonymity; ppl often feel judged for their answers so polling organizations are finding ways to avoid this(ex. Not having live answers, instead press a number on phone dial to answer)

4 Constitutional principles

1) separation of powers/ checks and balances 2) federalism 3) judicial review 4) a limited government

Marbury v Madison background

1803 This case establishes the Supreme Court's power of Judicial Review William Marbury and others were commissioned as judges by Federalist president John Adams during his last days in office. This act angered the New Democratic-Republican president, Thomas Jefferson Jefferson ordered his secretary of state, James Madison, not to deliver the commissions Marbury took advantage of a section in the Judiciary Act of 1789 that allowed him to take his case directly to the Supreme Court He sued Madison, demanding the commission and the judgeship

McCulloch v Maryland

1819 MD starts taxing bank(nat gov), McCulloch(who ran the bank) sues MD SCOTUS(Justice Marshall) decides that fed gov has more pwr over state govs SCOTUS gives Congress implied pars, which gives Congress more pwr over states Confirms nat gov is supreme to state govs Necessary and Proper Clause+ Commerce Clause(commerce=any econ activity) helped expand pwr of nat gov

14th Amendment

1866(during Reconstruction) Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws Sets US up for Civil Rights Huge reduction in pwr of states Incr pwr of nat gov: ability to protect rights of citizens in states(previously not possible); nat gov can charge someone under nat law even if states found someone not guilty Nat gov can force states to respect Bill of Rights; can also enforce anti discrimination laws in states 1) states can't deny privileges to some citizens - ex. if some ppl can vote, states can't deny that right to some groups bc of race/ethnicity 2) states can't deny ppl of rights in Bill of Rights - they can take away rights from ppl(ex. in jail), but states must go through due process of law first - states must now follow Bill of Rights 3) state laws can't treat ppl unequally/discriminate - Anti discrimination/ states can't discriminate - Sets up path to Civil Rights Movement- how Jim Crow laws later become invalidated

US v Lopez

1995 States decide what laws schools must abide by; fed gov tried to intervene and set rules in jurisdiction of state govs SCOTUS decides Congress only has expressed pars, which gives states more pwr Congress had been getting too much pwr, so this keeps Congress in check SCOTUS held that Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by prohibiting guns in a school zone

Citizens United v FEC

2010 Money is an expression of free speech Independent expenditures are free speech protected by the 1st Amendment and so cannot be limited by federal law Leads to creation of SuperPACs & massive rise in amount of third party electioneering (Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow)

Incumbency advantage

2022: no incumbent lost re-election for first time since 1934 Members of Congress continue to win re-election even tho ppl hate Congress There's internal adv built into structure of Congress that enable members of Congress to help incumbents win re-election Unintended, but now that it helps incumbents they aren't getting rid of the adv Franking, Staff, name recognition, seniority/committee positions Majority of new members of congress come when there's an open seat(no incumbent seeking re-election)

Jacksonian era and political parties

2nd political system Parties begin to have more structure Voting rights expand - all white males can vote - parties adapt to represent more ppl Party convention emerged - not just caucuses anymore - formal proceedings w rules as to how to select candidates for office 12th Amendment: restructured how electoral college work

Buckley v Valeo

A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech The court also stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns

Difference between block grant and formula grant

A formula grant is a type of block grant(some block grants are divided evenly btwn states) Gov gives dif states dif amts of money based on pop or need Gov gives states digression on how to spend the money

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president Federalism: states vote for prez

Political ideology

A more or less consistent set of beliefs about what policies government ought to pursue At a certain point, political beliefs become set opinions(normally either liberal or conservative camps) Greatest prediction for how someone votes one election: how they self-identify their political ideology Once you're set w political ideology, you're pretty much set for life

Responsible parties

A party system in which each party offers clear policy alternatives and holds their elected officials responsible for enacting these policies in office Goal: strengthen political parties, make sure politicians stick to the party beliefs This led to more consistent political ideologies, causes political polarization Party supports whoever follows its platform the best Theory: ex. if a republican isn't very republican, voters shouldn't support that candidate, should punish him and vote for someone else If a person is too moderate and doesn't follow party enough, party won't support him: this causes polarization and distinct parties Parties polarize first(elite opinion), public follows(mass opinion)

Political culture

A patterned and sustained way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out Thought by society as a whole- ppl w dif political ideologies agree(they just might manifest it politically in dif ways) Ex. Amer believe strongly in political equality; believe in free markets, individualism, the ability for individuals to succeed(just dif ways of doing that btwn conservatives/liberals)

Republicanism

A philosophy of limited government with elected representatives serving at the will of the people The government is based on consent of the governed

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Participatory democracy

A system of government where rank-and-file citizens rule themselves rather than electing representatives to govern on their behalf

Super PACs

AKA 527 (nonprofit organization) Must be completely indep of all candidates Don't endorse candidates Simply support issues Ex. Run ads abt how great the environment is, and then show like a scary pic of Trump but don't specifically say anything abt how Trump doesn't support environment Doesn't work w any political campaign- can raise unlimited money, can spend unlimited money Issue based: As long as you fill the mission of the organization, there's no ways that you have to spend the money Ex. Simone can use the money to preach abt basketball by staying in super nice hotels and meals as she travels You j have to pay the fee to IRS and sign some stuff, and you can form a PAC/Super PAC You don't have to do it strictly on political causes Ex. Teachers union can spend millions on issue advocacy, running ads, etc as long as they act independently of candidate Cannot coordinate w campaigns- can't talk to each other

Block Grants

AKA Grants-in-Aid Fed gov gives chunk of money to state govs to administer a program States have little ruling on where to put the money they're given... it's their choice to best solve the problem As long as what states spend their money on is related to the reason for grant, they can put their money there Ex. Oklahoma: gave some of its block money to marriage counseling to decrease divorce, and hopefully therefore help split-home children States love block grants be there's few strings attached- they get to spend the money wherever Ex. welfare

Class view

AKA Marxist view Government dominated by capitalists Rich people buy off politicians to make laws that benefit the rich

Representative democracy

AKA Republic Ppl vote for representatives who vote for bills National level

Franking(incumbency advantage)

Ability for members of Congress to send mail to their constituents for free ◦Any time a member of Congress accomplishes smthg, they can send mail to constituents highlighting their accomplishments/what they voted for etc for free Political opponent has to pay for postage

Why ppl don't vote

Age- younger ppl are less likely to vote Abt half of nonvoters are registered to vote(they just choose not to- other half aren't registered) US is only advanced democracy in world that puts work of registering to vote on the voter(bc of federalism, all dif states have dif requirements for what's needed to vote/register) US is only democracy where elections are decentralized- nat gov doesn't administer elections, which makes it harder to have automatic voter registration since ppl have to register for their states... the state would have to adopt automatic voter registration, not the nat gov Common reasons that ppl say: scheduling conflicts, fam obligations, they thought vote wouldn't make a df Ppl of lower income/hourly jobs are less likely to vote- don't have as flexible of a schedule to plan out when to vote(parents may also need to care for kids since they can't afford daycare) 3 most important criteria abt if ppl vote: - time(do you have time to vote?) - knowledge(do you know who's running for office?)- many don't vote if they don't know what the issues are/who's running; they also aren't informed if an election is close, so they don't know if their vote matters more than in other elections - enthusiasm- ppl who think vote matters more, who are more invested, will work harder to find the time to vote

Great (Connecticut) Compromise

Agreement for a plan of government that drew upon both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans I settled issues of state representation by calling for a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives apportioned proportionately and a Senate apportioned equally

Federalists

Alexander Hamilton Strong fed gov Implied pars: necessary and proper= gov do whatever it needs to solve problems

Necessary and Proper Clause

Allows Congress to enact laws that are necessary to carry out its enumerated pwrs SCOTUS decides what's necessary and proper AKA "elastic clause" Article 1 Section 8 of Constitution

General Welfare Clause

Allows Congress to enact laws that it sees fit to support the common good Implied Power- it must be related to an enumerated power Article 1 Section 8 of Constitution Not much different than Necessary and Proper Clause Barely used in practice

Creedal pasion view

Always successful Rejected in Federalist Papers The most passionate ppl dominate politics Ppl who protest the loudest, most obnoxiously get what they want Smaller, more passionate group beats bigger, less passionate group Passion, not facts, matters- ppl w most publicity and charisma can convince ppl to look past facts

Federal powers

Amendment process Declaring war Military Foreign policy and treaties Printing money Regulating interstate commerce Maintain postal services

Is the media trustworthy and unbiased?

Amer are less confident in the press Lots of bias Opinion pieces are advertised like they're news programs Opinion pieces and news are presented in the same format So most ppl can't tell the dif btwn an opinion piece and a news piece

Plurality/majority/winner take all system

An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority Used in almost all American elections If you win a state(other than NE/ME), you win if you get majority of electoral college votes

How ppl register to vote

Any gov agency where you go to conduct business (post office, DMV, etc) will allow you to register to vote Motor-voter law: allows ppl to register when getting license- has led to incr in registered voters, but not an incr in voter turnout(still stuck around 50-60%) Political campaigns- will go around asking if ppl are registered, will register for them; will tell them where/when/how to vote(goal= to drive up political participation) Motor-voter law, political campaigns have both helped incr voter registration but not rly voter turnout(it incr proportionally but stays around 50-60%) Remember: half of ppl who don't vote are registered

10th Amendments

Any power not given to the central government is given to the state government

Amendment process

Article 5 of Constitution 2 ways: 1) Member(s) of Congress write amendment, submit to Congress for approval; requires 2/3 of House and 2/3 of Senate to vote yes for it to be approved - After both House/Senate vote yes, 3/4 of states must vote to ratify the amendment 2) Congress calls for Constitutional convention - 2/3 of House and 2/3 of Senate must agree to call for Constitutional convention - All states are invited to send representatives(they can propose changes to amendment at convention) - If 3/4 states approve, then the amendment is adopted - This way has never happened- no convention since Constitution was ratified(1787) Federalism: states and fed gov each play a role in the process - neither can pass the amendment w/o the other's approval Also Separation of Powers(one pwr for states, one pwr for fed gov) - Separation of Powers doesn't just have to be abt the branches

How Candidates encourage voters to vote

Assign credit: - if you are incumbent/currently hold office, you want to take credit for things you did well - Ex. Biden wants to take credit for things that will encourage Dem to vote for him- not looking to encourage Rep, just looking to encourage Dem - what it is that you think will motivate your partisans to vote for you Assign blame: - when you run against an incumbent, you blame that person for all the bad things - ex. in 2020 Biden constantly criticized Trump for how he handled covid - target those criticisms to smthg that will activate your voters •you can't be like like "things are great, you should vote for me instead"- you need to get them to want to cause change Judging the candidates' character - It doesn't seem that ppl care abt the candidates' character - ex. Herschel walker had poor character, but ppl still voted for him bc they liked his policy ideas+ how he would vote for stuff

Efforts to incr voter turnout

Australian ballot v caucus or open ballon - Australian ballot= secret ballot in voting booth; no one sees who you voted for; this helped decr corruption/pressure to vote one way - Open vote= past way of voting; ppl could see who you vote for(in past: KKK would force ppl to vote the way they wanted); can see if they put vote in separate pile - Caucus= you and your neighbors gather, stand up in front of ppl and publicly show who you're voting for Open voting processes have lower turnout bc ppl want privacy, don't want to feel pressured to vote one way Same day registration Vote by mail Early voting("souls to the polls"= load ppl on bus after church and go to vote) None of these actually incr voter turnout- it's still around 50-60%

Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act

Banned soft money donations to political parties (loophole from FECA) Declared unconstitutional by Citizens United case AKA McCain-Feingold Act Citizens United Case: - says that limiting how they spend their money restricts their freedom of speech - As long as an organization is focused on a particular issue(not affiliated w a campaign), you cannot restrict their expenditures - This gave rise to Super PACs(was previously j PACs) bc it's j a group that advocates for issues

Disenfranchisement of Racial and Ethnic minorities

Barriers: literacy tests, poll tax, grandfather clause, white primaries Grandfather clause: • If your grandfather could vote, you are excluded from having to pay a poll tax, taking a literacy test, etc. • White people's grandfather's could vote, and black people's could not, further disabling them to vote White primaries: Only white poeple could vote in primary elections because primary elections don't actually elect anyone to office, its just how we select candidates These barriers were banned by Voting Rights Act of 1965

Sampling erros/ MoE(Margin of error)

Bc we aren't asking every person in US, the number will be off a little bit Probability tells us how much the actual number we might be off by •Ex. We ask 1k ppl abt Joe Biden; 43% think he's doing a good job, 66% don't- its most likely not the same percentages for whole nation... •mathematically(based on probability), I get this number +/- margin of errorEx. 43% +/- 3% believe Joe Biden is doing a good job as president ◦The actually percentage of ppl in US is btwn 40-46% ◦Replicability tells me 95/100 times follow this range: •If I ran a survey 100 times asking ppl what they thought abt Joe Biden, 95 of those times I will get an answer btwn 40-46% ◦If when I look at poll and there's overlap through MoE, then it's indeterminate abt who's winning/leading •Ex: an election•45% say they're voting Republican, 50% say they're voting Democrat; MoE= +/- 4% ◦We don't know who's leading bc margin of error can put either party in the lead ‣Repub are 41-49% and Dem are 46-49%... there's overlap thru MoE, so it's impossible to tell who is winning ‣Important not to just look at polling numbers, need to take MoE into account •Good polling organizations tell us their margin of error; bad/biased polling organizations hide the sampling error

Formula grants

Block grants: all states get same funding for same thing; doesn't make as much since always(ex. Vermont doesn't need as much money for roads as CA) These formulas make sure the money distributed is more equal CA would get more money than Vermont, but that's bc it needs more money

Problems w Devolution

By 2011, states faced debt bc they have to pay for more programs States must either: incr revenue(incr taxes), take out debt, or cut benefits give to citizens - dif states do dif things This is a big issue: states don't want fed gov to have too much pwr, but the states don't have financial resources to cover costs for everything they want to do There's barriers in some states to have enough money- some states require a vote to raise taxes; some state constitutions say the state can't incur debt(no debt spending by law)

How voters learn about candidates

Campaign events: rallies, speeches, etc attracts local media- voters get to here abt candidates thru newspaper/local news networks Campaign volunteers go door to door, distributing flyers/info Paid media, commercials, social media, etc

Log-rolling

Client politics A legislator supports a proposal favored by another in return for support of his or hers Both MO and FL governors need separate bills to pass, so they vote for each other's bill Vote trading

Pork-barrel legislations

Client politics Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning their votes in return Why help other ppl if I don't benefit from the bill? Government has decided to spend x amt of $ on project... someone decides to take some of that $ and put it on unrelated project Ex. If $40 mil for hurricane relief, someone might take $500k of that legislation to help the state(ex. lobster trade) that ppl from Dif states wouldn't vote for otherwise - ppl still vote for the bill bc they want disaster relief Congress has to authorize $ spending: An Idaho governor may only vote for the bill if it's changed to make some of the $ go to build Idaho roads

Client politics

Concentrated benefits, widely distributed costs Pork-barrel legislations and log-rolling Ex. Farm subsidies - MO farmers need $ to maintain price of crops... Fl leader may vote for that if: - log-rolling: MO votes to protect manatees OR - pork-barrel legislation: MO reallocates some of the $ to protecting manatees

Compromise on the importation of slaves

Congress was prohibited from addressing the importation of new slaves into the United States until January 1, 1808 States also had an obligation to deliver all fugitive slaves back to their owners

Supply side economic theory

Conservative/ republican view of economics•If you want a high-functioning + efficient econ, you need to promote incr supply If companies produce a lot of smthg, that will drive prices down so more consumers can afford the goods If consumers can afford these goods, then they'll buy them If ppl buy lots of stuff, that generates money for the gov(bc gov taxes the revenue; also thru sales tax) Encourage incr in supply by cutting taxes on companies, lowering gov regulations of businesses (so it's easier to get things to market and sell things) Cutting taxes as a whole: ppl are taxed less so they have more money to buy things; businesses are taxed less so they can produce more goods Assumes that if we continue to incr supply, price of goods will stay steady/decr Encourages consumerism, which is the basis of the econ- bc ppl need to purchase things Helps prevent monopolies- less regulations for new businesses... If there's no regulations, I can sell everything cheaper+ ship faster than Amazon Lower barriers to start company= more competition= lower costs Ex. I don't need a bunch of food/regulations licenses to start hotdog cart in DC(as of rn I need sanitation dept. approval, FDA approval, etc) Goal: encourage consumption bc as ppl consume, there's more revenue for gov(bc gov makes revenue thru taxes) Dif than Keynesian bc it thinks that: if we make things, ppl will come Low taxes, low regulation

Soft money donation

Contributions made to parties and committees PACs and Super PACs

Gerrymandering- cracking populations

Divide one party into smaller groups, thus diluting their ability to infl elections ‣Ex. Repub divide up Dem voters so each district has a small amt of Dem- this gives Repub most seats bc they have majority in each district Ex. New Orleans is cracked into 3 dif districts- this prevents Dem from winning 2 congressional seats, limits them to one seat since one district has Dem but nearby Dem are diluted into a Repub district

Push polls

Done by campaign workers posing as indep pollsters •Have leading questions that lead ppl to the answers they want through dif wording •"Improving education" v "raising taxes" ◦"Cleaning up the environment" v "expanding government power" ◦Also done just to spread rumors or lies(done in McCain's election)•"Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew he ad fathered an illegitimate black child?" ◦Goal isn't to generate a response, but to make ppl think McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child ‣Point is to get ppl to vote against McCain ◦Bad, biased polls to sway voters to/away from one candidate

Conservatives(Republicans, right)

Economic: - keep taxes same/lower them - everyone has chance to succeed(nothing holding back dif groups) - less gov regulation - more stress on individualism - less gov intervention on Econ issues(regulation does more harm than good) Social: - illegal abortion - ties btwn rel and gov - incr mil spending - more gov intervention on social issues(ex. regulate abortion, marriage rights, etc)

Liberals(Democrats, left)

Economic: - raise taxes - more likely to say there's forces outside of ppl's control that influence their social standing - more welfare+ assistance to ppl - more gov intervention on Econ issues(ex. gov spending on welfare, etc) Social: - legal abortion - separate rel and gov - no gov intervention on social issues(ex. no restrictions on abortion, marriage rights, etc) - decr mil spending

Shape voter behavior- part of political party

Educate voters Develop ideological platforms - ex. republican have policy platform dictated by a conservative ideology - policy platforms are made up of individual policy issues called planks

Delegate

Elected leader who makes decisions based on what citizens want

Horse race journalism

Election coverage by the mass media that focuses on which candidate is ahead rather than on national issues Leads to focus on negativity, scandals, sensationalism and media info how we view elections

Effects of elections on policy

Election outcomes •Trends in winning/losing show shift ◦Ex. GA going from Repub to Dem •attitudes of voters change after elections; angry voters are more likely to vote than happy voters ◦Ex. VA governor elections 2020: Dem were happy bc they won prez, but Repub were mad they were out of pwr •Operation of electoral system- states change the way they run their elections sometimes based on consequences of elections ◦Ex. Fla passed a bunch of laws in 2000 to modernize how they run elections after it was dragged out •Fate of political parties ◦Ex. Whig party died out after an election ‣It's rarer today but still very much possible •Direction of public policy ◦Elections have policy consequences ‣When one party takes control of gov, they get to enact the policies they said they were going to enact ‣Direction of public policy= direct correlation btwn who wins an election and what policy outcomes you get

Rise of the American Electorate

Elections were initially under complete state control ◦Elections looked different from state to state ◦Over time, the federal governemnt increased its involvement

24th amendment

Eliminated the poll tax You cannot charge someone a fee to vote

How campaigns are different today

Everything is poll-tested(ex. a candidate makes a tv ad, polls whether ppl think it's good) High-tech canvassing/micro-targeting Most campaigning now is fundraising - candidates spend most of their time hosting events(ex. spend $1k to have lunch w Biden) - that is why everything else is outsourced- media team comes up w ads, candidates are busy fundraising They're so so expensive: recent campaigns have incr spending exponentially

3 types of polls

Exit polls Tracking polls Push polls

Federal Election Commission

FEC Monitors election activities Has pwr to fine anyone who breaks election laws

How family contributes to political socialization

Family is primary source of political socialization Most important source of political socialization for early parts of life First place where you learn how to treat other ppl, what's right and wrong Input of fam becomes greatly diminished over time as I move away

Mandate

Fed gov passes law that requires states to do smthg Just bc the fed gov gives money to states doesn't mean states are happy States may be mandated to run a program w gov funding Sometimes states refuse the aid and don't administer the program if it doesn't align w their ideals- the fed gov technically can't require states to do anything(that's why it provides money in the mandates) Sometimes fed will only continue to give money for stuff as long as the needs are met - ex. gov will take away freeway funding if states don't set BAC limit to .08 for drivers States desperately need money from nat gov- keeps these mandates possible Ex. welfare is administered by states, funded by nat gov Ex. States have to run Headstart, get paid for it by gov Ex. SNAP(food stamps)

No Child Left Behind Act

Federal law enacted in 2002 that introduced new accountability measures for elementary and secondary schools in all states that wish to receive federal aid

Recruit/support candidates- part of political party

Find candidates for office Fundraise, conduct polls and focus groups Once they recruit candidates, they support the candidates in the election This is the main goal of political parties- you can't pass any policies if you don't have candidates

Federalist Papers no 51 and 10 overview

Framers= writers of Constitution(Madison, Hamilton) Founders= Decl of Indep and starters of country(Adams, TJ, Washington) Federalist papers • for Constitution(Federalists) • Federalist papers= editorial papers in NY state newspapers advocating for public of NY to ratify Constitution ◦ Propaganda bc framers were afraid NY wouldn't ratify Constitution • Federalist 10 is prob most famous • Hamilton ◦ Central gov is strong and powerful and we need strong gov or else we will descend into anarchy ◦ Sees that Constitution strips power from states(pwr to central gov) • Madison ◦ Sees that the Constitution creates strong central gov w more pwr, but still leads a lot of pwr to states(and ppl) • Hamilton and Madison didn't really agree on what Constitution would mean for gov, but they agreed it's better than current situation and gives more pwr to central gov ◦ Partially bc Constitution is written up hastily to get rid of Articles of Confed ASAP ‣ A lot of "we'll deal w that later" • Both 10 and 51 are about stopping tyranny

15th amendment

Gave all men the right to vote regardless of race

19th amendment

Gave women the right to vote 1920

Majoritarian politics

Goal= to make benefits as universal as posible Free-rider/free-loader problem: someone will benefit w/o contributing; there's no solution to this problem ex. Social security, public edu Ex. of free-rider: property taxes pay for public edu; renting apartments doesn't have property taxes, so apartment renters don't pay for public edu, but their kids receive benefit

Theocracy

Gov draws per from divine/rel authority Ex. Iran

Totalitarian government

Gov has absolute control over every aspect of life Ex. North Korea

Monarchy

Gov power vested in king or queen Authoritarian Ex. Saudi Arabia

Democracy

Gov that vests pwr in ppl Based on popular sovereignty

Hamilton + National Bank

Hamilton believed: - having bank would aid gov in paying off debt, coining money, collecting taxes(how he relates it to enumerated pars) - ability to charter bank is implied pwr- it would help Congress carry out its duties - the bank will also allow ppl to borrow money to start businesses= interstate commerce

Federalist 84/Hamilton's criticisms of Bill of Rights

Hamilton's criticism of Bill of Rights If gov enumerates rights of citizens, 2 things will happen: 1) gov will treat those enumerated rights as the only rights that citizens have; gov will see that citizens don't have an enumerated right, it'll stop them from doing it 2) if you list rights, you imply that gov had ability to restrict rights in the first place - if gov exists to protect natural rights, it shouldn't be able to restrict rights - this would allow gov to restricts rights

National convention

Happens every 4 years Where prez is nominated Where the two parties write their party platform ◦ Rewritten at every convention National committee oversees the party in between convention years and ensures candidates align w party goals

The "Iron Triangle"

Idea that the act of lawmaking isn't the straight line btwn congress voting on bill and prez signing it Interest groups are at the top of triangle btwn interest groups, congress, prez Interest groups propose laws by lobbying/influencing members of Congress Then congress decides to act on the pressure being put on it by interest groups Congress also interacts w interest groups If members of congress wants to pass a law to make water cleaner, they'll ask interest groups to talk to congress so they can provide expertise on how to pass law to purify the water Exec branch and interest groups interact Interest groups may want to convince prez to sign or veto a law Or, if there's already an existing law, interest groups will lobby to parts of exec branch(all the dif secretary ofs...) Ex. An interest group talks to the secretary of energy to see if there's anything the exec branch can do to encourage more ppl to buy electric vehicles Seeing if there's a pre-existing law that they could use to encourage/incentivize this Interest group lobbies to exec branch for how strictly exec branch will enforce a law- exec branch has duty of enforcing a law as it sees fit Or, a company that makes weapons and equipment may lobby to pentagon that it buys its equipment How the gov spends money

Correlation btwn economy and prez election

If incumbent has brought abt a good economy, he's more likely to be re-elected

Semi closed primary

If you are a registered indep, you choose which party's primary to vote in Ppl registered in a party must vote in their party's primary Generally it's best to register for the party you want

Tracking polls

If you're asking the same group of ppl the same q over and over again, if there's a change in opinon/ how ppl say they're going to vote, it's easier to follow up w "why?"As opposed to I ask 2 dif groups at random and idk why one group said one thing and another group said smthg else ◦I don't know if I get dif results from dif groups if either attitudes changed or the ppl have dif views ◦Poll w same pool of ppl asked over time to see if ppl change their view on issues/voting preferences •Since same group is being polled, those ppl can be asked why they changed their views •Results show changes in public opinion in real time •Bc every day, these ppl were asked who'd they vote for ◦The ppl in the group were selected randomly(1k group of random ppl for accuracy), but we follow up w them

Power elite view/Elite view

In Federalist Papers Gov dominated by a few top leaders, mostly outside of gov Takes status, not just $ into view A few individuals are elite bc of social status, gov connection, popularity Elite shape gov by pressuring gov through their connections Ex. Bono is invited by prez to White House to talk abt world hunger

Pluralist view/ Pluralism

In Federalist Papers, esp w Madison Belief that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy Individ are powerless in Amer political system Only way to enter pwr and influence are through groups Ppl w similar views come together to protest and form crowd There's countless groups advocating for Dif things... some groups win, losing groups continue to press for gov change

Political polarization

In the 2000s the political parties became regionally divided Traditional, religious, and anti-government voters were often in rural and suburban areas and voted Republican Liberals were commonly found in urban areas and voted Democrat Main thing that has incr voter turnout- ppl are more passionate abt the candidates/causes and want to vote

Gallup poll

Introduced in 1936 by George Gallup•He found way to ask random poll... would pick random numbers out of phone book, would ask random ppl on street, etc •He proved 1k is the benchmark for an accurate poll •Led to modern polling •The Gallup polling organization was most accurate in country •Stopped polling prez elections in 2012 bc it got too expensive •Polling can only tell what ppl will do as a percentage(can't say that Trump will win 44% of vote, will win 200 electoral votes... polls tell popular vote, not electoral vote)

Privately owned media

Is there gov-run media in US?- No- In other counties, there's some form of gov run media(ex BBC)If it's a privately-run corporation, it must make money In order for press to publish it's material, it must make money bc gov isn't funding the media What does need for profit lead to? News org will publish things that draw attention+ customers Leads to dramatic storytelling Media bias: co targets part of pop by presenting particular part of political agenda

Policy dynamics

Issue can remain stable, change a little or a lot, change slowly or quickly No "typical" path Most major social legislation reflects majoritarian politics Common for public opinion to remain stagnant until decision sparks change Not always durable shifts - can't predict now if shift in favor of abortion will stay - shift in favor of gay marriage has been durable, more support always growing Ex. public opinion on abortion has been steady for 50+ years - Dif groups though same things for years - groups were(until Dobbs decision) barely shifting their views - now: way more women for abortion/pro choice Ex. Civil rights - slow progressive shift

Political agenda

Issues that ppl believe require gov action Gov must pay attention to the issues for them to actually be included in agenda Dif political agenda depending on who's in pwr Events can shift the agenda(ex. 9/11 response)

Voting Rights Act of 1965

It prohibited literacy tests, grandfather clause, and white primaries (the 24 amendment took care of the poll tax) ‣ Some argue that modern-day reforms such as the voter ID laws and reductions to early voting are intended to disfranchise minority voters

Democratic Republicans

Jefferson and Madison Small, local gov- pwr to states Necessary and proper= do what is ABSOLUTELY necessary- minimal pwr to gov Believed if Congress created National Bank, it would be an abuse of pwr

Two Treatises of Government

John Locke Our lives + liberties + states= property Goal= mutual preservation: gov acts in interest of citizens Citizens create social contract btwn citizens- we agree we want gov that protects or lives, liberty, property Citizens are sole decider of what gov looks like+ how it acts(gov= creation of our social contract) Pwr rests w the ppl- popular sovereignty If the ppl don't like the gov, we can try a new one(the contract btwn ourselves remains the same, but gov that enforces the social contract changes) Many similar ideas in Decl of Indep

Brady Bill

Law passed in 1993 requiring a waiting period on sales of handguns, along with a criminal background check on the buyer

What do governments, rules, and institutions depend on? (2 things)

Legitimacy: mass feeling that the gov's rule is rightful(ex. ppl grumble but pay taxes to IRS) Authority: political leader's formalized or codified ability to command respect+ exercise pwr(can come from laws, history/tradition)

Keynesian economic theory

Liberal/democratic view of economics Focused on middle and lower half of econ spectrum; presupposes that rich ppl already have enough money to buy things Gov gives mid and lower classes more money so they can spend more money(give them money or access to welfare) Gov incr taxes to ppl w high incomes, uses that money to give to middle/lower income ppl(wealth transfers from top to bottom) Ppl have more disposable money= they want to buy more things= companies respond by making more stuff Gov incr taxes on corporations and upper-income individual to pay for social welfare programs, those programs give money/services to middle and lower income ppl, those middle and lower income ppl use that money to buy things, companies produce more supply since more ppl are buying, costs are lowered If you want ppl to spend money, give them money to spend Goal: generate demand; give ppl more money to spend High taxes, more social welfare programs

Tasks of interest groups

Lobbying Meeting with policymakers to promote interests Earmarks: specific amendments or funding of bills for special projects Earmarks are to appease interest groups Electioneering Supporting candidates, working in elections Litigating Taking issues to court Public Awareness Inform public abt issues

Intergovernmental Lobby

Lobbying: when groups petition the gov to take action on their special interest All states created this together Representatives of dif states work together and lobby the gov for money Informal channel through which states negotiate w nat gov Arguing for universal needs- they all need money for healthcare, edu, etc programs Can be rivalry - Snowbelt v Sunbelt: needs of north are dif from needs of south - Dif infrastructure needs for west coast and east coast - Rivalry can be rly important when grants are based on formulas- ex. SE wants more money for hurricane relief than west coast The way states petition the gov affects how the gov distributes funding

26th amendment

Lowered voting age to 18

Costs and benefits of Majoritarian, Entrepreneurial, Client, Interest Group politics

Majoritarian - cost: widely distributed - benefits: widely distributed Entrepreneurial: - cost: narrowly concentrated - benefits: widely distributed Client: - cost: widely distributed - benefits: narrowly concentrated Interest group - cost: narrowly concentrated - benefit: narrowly concentrated

How congressional member can lose a seat without losing an election

Malapportionment Gerrymandering

Unfunded mandates

Mandates that come w/o money- states just have to do it Ex. Endangered Species Act: nat gov mandates that states protect endangered species that exist w/in their state boundaries - States have to figure out how to stop poachers/traders, save animals- all w/o nat gov funding If states don't follow these unfunded mandates, they may lose funding for related programs Ex. Endangered Species Act: they may lose funding for national parks if they don't save the animals Ex. Clean Air Act: states have to ensure that air is clean w/o funding however they want to do that Ex. Clean Water Act: states have to keep water clean w/o funding, however they see fit Ex. ADA(American Disabilities Act)

How does media frame issues?

Media has ability to shape perspective abt an issue This impacts how we perceive and understand what the media is talking abt

How does media spread political accountability?

Media holds politicians accountable for their actions Whistleblowers: a person on the inside who reveals smthg going on Media often relies on whistleblowers inside politics who reveal scandal or corruption There's laws that protect anonymity, safety from employers, etc of whistleblowers- safeguards to protect ppl who reveal info

How does media gatekeep?

Media may prioritize certain types of news, decide not to show some kinds of newsNews org gets to decide what it thinks is important to show Now: w social media/internet, it's easier to find it even if major news org try to gatekeep it

Seniority and committee positions(incumbency advantage)

Members of Congress are assigned to dif committees that deal w dif parts of policy(edu, infrastructure, taxes, health care, etc) ◦The more time you spend in Congress, the more important committees you get put on/ you get a choice of which committee to serve on ◦Certain committees come w certain financial advantages for incumbents ◦Businesses are often donate to members of congress who pass laws that help the business' field ◦Ex. Teachers unions make large financial donation to members of congress who are on committees that deal w edu bc they hope to infl them •Hope= campaign contribution will buy you some good will ‣It's a lot easier to fundraise ◦2021/22: House of Rep: incumbents raised almost $3 mil, challengers raised abt $300k ◦Ex. Purdue farms like laws abt chicken raising, so they fundraise to keep ppl in Congress so the laws don't change

Staff(incumbency advantage)

Members of Congress get a staff ◦Constituent services: ppl in Houes of Rep/Senate help constituents who call w complaints ◦They fix problems(ex help get passport approved quickly, help fix roads, etc) ‣Any problem you have w a gov program you can call abt this for Happy constituents may not vote for you, but they won't vote against you bc you were helpful to them ◦Over 50% of work in congressional office is constituent services ◦Allows reps to form relationships w constituents

The "Revolving Door"

Members of Congress will retire from Congress and join an interest group as a lobbyist(makes more money) Why is it beneficial for an interest group to have this? They get an ex member of congress who already knows the other members to come back to congress and lobby to the ppl they already have connections w Revolving door bc they leave then come back

Libertarians

Moderate stances on social issues Less restrictive views on immigration Hybrid btwn liberals and conservatives Liberal social policies(no restrictions on abortion, marriage rights) Conservative Econ policies(low taxes, less Econ regulation, less gov services)

Rise of polling companies

Modern polling is less than 100 yrs old(started in Literary Digest, but then George Gallup changed how it worked •In 1916 they would contact ppl who had telephone(through telephone directories) and car(thru car registrations)... not a random survey •Only the wealthy had these, so Literary Digest(the first pollster) would unintentionally survey rich ppl ◦All previous Literary Digest surveys predicted prez elections, so they had confirmation bias that said they were correct •1936: Gallup found better way to predict 1936 election, was more accurate than Literary Digest that predicted the rich republican would win

Categorical grants

Nat gov grants money to states for specific purposes States don't like these as much: they have to spend money on x, or they lose it Ex. Headstart: early childhood edu access to pre-k: nat gov gives money to states to run pre-k, they can't use it on anything else Ex. Freeways: fed gov gives states money, they have to use it on freeways Ex. Infrastructure: fed gov will give money to states for ex. railroads, bridges, and states and have to spend it on what fed gov wants

Does data show that political advertising changes the way people vote?

No Ppl are barraged w so many ads They aren't rly convincing enough- once a person develops political ideology, ads don't rly change their mind Ads may encourage you to go vote, but won't cause you to change the way you've voted

Do states have to follow Bill of Rights?

No(until 14th Amendment)- when passed, it was made clear that the Bill of Rights only protects ppl from nat gov The Bill of Rights doesn't protect me from state govs(states don't have to respect freedom of religion, press, speech, etc) This became a problem: states repressed religion minorities, had lots of search and seizures) 14th Amendment explicitly says that states can't infringe on your rights- seeks to change this problem

Perception of costs v benefits

Often distorted Politics convince ppl if a benefit is worth it/ if ppl receiving benefit deserve it Ex. do ppl need the $10k for students loans? - ppl are fighting abt if they deserve it - we have Dif political opinions bv we have Dif values on who deserves what

Religion's role in political socialization

Older ppl across all religions are more socially conservative Younger ppl across all religions are more socially liberal Younger ppl across the board are more socially liberal than their parents/grandparents of same religion Generational splits that cut thru other factors

Political participation among young ppl

Older voters are likely to vote ◦Voters age 18 to 24 register and vote at much lower rates than voters age 65 and older

Exit polls

On voting day Precinct is randomly selected, pollsters have statistical way of asking voters who come out of voting booth Voters fill out details abt who they are(age, gender, race), who they voted for, what issues they care abt Now done by Associated Press mainly Often used by news media to help them call elections/make predictions abt the outcome in various states Can confirm prior polling data to help tell who's going to win Can also tell if the pre-voting polling data might not be the case, ppl need to tune in to watch and see how it's going to shape out bc it'll be hard to predict(doesn't follow the path ppl through it would)

How opinions differ

Opinion saliency(relevance/ importance)... gov might not think an issue is as important as public thinks Opinion stability(sometimes opinions are stable, not much fluctuation on what public thinks on an issue; also sometimes lots of fluctuation- • gov doesn't pay as much attention to fleeting opinions) Gov more likely to care abt stable opinions where public is super for/against an issue Opinion-policy congruency: sometimes there's major disconnect btwn what public thinks and policy: ◦Ex. 2009: ppl wanted Medicare w/o gov... can't have gov-run healthcare w/o gov ‣Ex. Ppl protesting US troops in Syria... but US didn't send troops to Syria ‣Misinformed opinions Elite opinion v Mass opinion(gov watches how elite opinion is bc elite opinion shapes mass opinion... like VO Key said)

Try to enact policy- part of political party

Organize leadership in Congress- leaders are expected to be on same page and follow their political party, party will stop supporting them if they don't Work w executive branch to enact. legislation- if prez is same party, then party will work w prez to make sure policies are enacted(or vetoed if he's not the majority party)

3 ways that polling organizations frame polls to be bad

Oversimplified questions(doesn't provide enough details, I may want one thing in certain cases and another in other cases) Compound questions(multiple questions in one poll) Biased question(begs an answer)... AKA leading question

Priveleges and immunities clause

Part of Article IV of the Constitution that guaranteeing that the citizens of each are afforded the same rights as citizens of all other states Pretty much same as part of 14th Amendment Equal treatment under the law

The rise and decline of the political party

Parties are constantly evolving- the way our political system supports parties has also changed, no final form of our political system or how our parties operate Democratic-Republicans and Federalists were the first parties Early parties operated like caucuses, there wasn't much structure to the parties

Trustee v delegate

People aren't necessarily trustee/delegate 100% of time Trustee: Elected ruler who does what he thinks is right even if citizens disagree Leader expects citizens to trust him and his judgement 2010: Dem vote for Obamacare even though citizens said not to- the Dem were then voted out of office Delegate: elected leader makes decisions based on what citizens want

Sources of political culture

Personal liberty v social control We fight abt how much personal liberty/social control there should be- fighting abt balance btwn these values We believe in individualism, equal opportunity, but we see equal opportunity differently(upper class and lower class have dif way of seeing equal opportunity) Religion: The Culture War= the fight over how much impact rel values should have on public life We have freedom of rel, protections of rel beliefs, but also separation of rel and gov It's hard to have both freedom of rel and separation btwn rel/gov... where do we draw the line?(That's what's up for debate- dif perspective on that= choosing btwn personal liberty v social control) As a multicultural, multiethnic society, there's a bunch of dif rel/cultures that influence society

PACs

Political Action Committees, raise money for candidates &/or parties Nonprofit organizations that raise money for the purpose of political/issue advocacy Can make a hard money donation to a candidate Can publicly endorse the candidate Can run ads specifically endorsing the candidate Bc the PAC can endorse a candidate, there's a limit to how much the PAC can spend- there's some restrictions on how they spend money Can raise unlimited money, but can't spend unlimited Ppl donate to the PAC, then that goes to issues(not too many ppl donate to PAC bc it's mostly ppl that have capped out on donating to a candidate) Must spend it strictly on political causes

Can the media lead us astray?

Political campaigns as a political game- (horse-race journalism) - Who's winning, etc Media assigns winners and losers, one team against another team, etc - To a certain extent it's true, but isn't how ppl should think abt politics - Ex. What can Kevin McCarthy do to get ahead? Who's winning and losing in the polls? Sensationalism and negativity - Violence always leads the nightly news - Gun deaths are lower in US than they were 10 yrs ago- we'd have no idea from j watching the news - This alters our perception of what's going on Some ppl absorb one type of news from one type of news source - Ppl can have two completely dif viewpoints of the same event depending on the news source they pay attention to

Hard money

Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed There's a limit of how much money any imdivid can give to a candidate

Articles of Confederation

Power to states Central got mostly just foreign affairs(doesn't protect liberty) Hope was that states would protect liberty, but they became source of tyranny(too much majority rule, ex. in PA ppl voted to take property from rich ppl) Took 9/13 states to pass laws, and no states wanted to agree to give up pwr No national army- only state militias(problem as seen w Shay's Rebellion)

Enumerated powers

Powers given to US gov expressly listed in Constitution Article 1 Section 8 of Constitution

General powers

Powers given to US government to serve general welfare of the people Article 1 Section 8 of Constitution General Welfare Clause + Necessary and Proper Clause

Direct democraacy

Ppl directly vote on laws Some state level, not national level

Candidate "scare-off"(incumbent advantage)

Ppl who might be good candidates choose not to run for office bc they don't want to waste the effort/money/time since re-election is so high ◦In some states, you have to resign your current position to run for office- they don't want to risk losing their current standings if opponent ◦has high chance of beating you

Prez v congressional campaigns

Prez: -more competitive; winner usually gets less than 55% of popular vote •More voters- most political participation in US is voting in prez elections •They're abt the state of the country and credit/blame •Generally about voters holding the gov accountable- do voters like how the prez is doing, how gov is running country •Prez can't take credit for things w/o also taking blame •Even things outside of prez control they can be blamed for since they're in charge •All abt voters holding prez accountable •Congressional:less competive •Most are re-elected(over 90% re-election rate) ◦Winner usually gets over 60% of popular vote ◦Fewer voters(non non-presidential years)- abt 30-40% turnout in a good year •Low turnout helps incumbents win re-election bc members of congress can form relationships w their constitutents ◦If you're not mad at your member of congress, you might not vote for him, but you won't turn up to vote against him ◦Allows members of Congress to easily cruise to re-election ◦Can deny responsibility- not as responsible for things as prez •Incumbency advantage

Primary elections

Primary elections are run at the local level- state, county, or city level Parties recruit potential candidates, but voters actually select them There's primary elections for just about every position Closed primary Open primary Semi-closed primary Blanket/jungle primary

Stakeholders

Primary, secondary, key Primary • someone directly affected by law • Ex. If a law made age to drive restricted to 21, I wouldn't be able to drive- primary stakeholder= ppl age 16-21 Secondary • someone tangentially affected by a law • Ex. If driving age is 21: my parents who have to drive me more places, my grandma who doesn't have me driving her to mass, car companies since they have less consumers • Ex. As a consumer, if a restriction is placed on a business(the primary stakeholder), then it makes me pay more money since the costs go up Key stakeholder • person with the ability to impact the decision as to whether or not it happens • when dif groups are affected by policy, they have to appeal to the key stakeholder

Gerrymandering

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power(strategic redistricting) One case where gerrymandering is illegal: when it's done by race(can't pack minorities together like they did in S so white pwr structure could maintain pwr/ crack them up to dilute their power) Redistricting occurs every 10 yrs after census Ex. if state legislature is controlled by Dem, they want to maximize Dem representation Districts are drawn in a way to make them noncompetitive- ensure that one party wins elections in dif congressional districts Districts must be more or less equal in pop size across the state Districts must be continuous 2 types: packing or cracking populations

Interest groups

Promote specific issues/interests to public and policymakers to support their agenda Big idea: groups are more effective than single persons When you combine the little groups to make a huge group, you're even more effective Organize dif sets of ppl w same goal but dif backgrounds

Nebraska, Maine's way of electoral votes

Proportional- Trump and Biden split the two states by congressional districts, not winner take all Ex. If Texas did this, Biden could've had 11 votes in TX in 2020 The current system seems to favor swing states- if a state becomes a swing state, it gets more attention

Voting by mail pros and cons

Pros: - Makes voting easier for eligible citizens ‣ Makes it quicker, there is no waiting around ‣ Would not need as many poll workers (if any) Cons: - Raises concerns related to voter fraud ‣ Could get lost in the mail ‣ Takes a long time ‣ Potentially more expensive

How parties help candidates win

Provide candidates w political identity: if you're a democrat, the dem party puts its support behind you, ppl know your views bc you're a demand share the dem party's platform Get-out-the-vote efforts: party works w your campaign to get voters to support you, to educate voters Polling Campaign staff and volunteers

Political Opinion and Constitution

Public opinion/public not given pwr in Constitution •Framers didn't want public to have much pwr in governmental affairs- public is stupid •Even now, citizens indirectly vote for prez; originally ppl could only vote members of the House of Rep(this has since changed w incr in •Democracy in Amer)Incr in enfranchisement, opportunities to vote over time= public opinion is more influential and gov becomes more democratic

The activities of interest groups

Public support: new political strategy since lobbying now has poor connotations How do interest groups make advocating for causes more appealing? Acts like an outsider- just like common ppl Ties w grassroots lobbying Grassroots lobbying Members of the interest group go and lobby to congressIt's more effective these days to have common ppl advocate If 500 members show up to congress member's door and demand to see you individ, then it shows how committed ppl are to the issue Also cheaper for the org Netroots activities Have ppl engage online Ex. Fill out an online survey, which they learned abt by seeing on social media or thru email blast Money and PACs Citizens United v FEC now allows interest groups to raise unlimited amts of money for issue-related campaigns

How does the media set public agenda?

Publishes what it thinks its viewers want to see Dif news org publish dif things By showing things often, it reinforces the issue Process: media signals what's important, we use that info to tell gov what we want it to do

State powers

Ratify amendments Conduct elections Establish local govs Regulate intrastate commerce(commerce inside of state boundaries) Licensing Police power

Three parts of a political party

Recruit/support candidates Shape voter behavior Try to enact policy

Oligarchy

Rule by small group of elites

Communities/influences that play part in political socialization

Schools- who you learn from, who you interact with Religion- politics of place I attend rel service= input into my value system(what's preached regularly has impact on me)... I most likely attend this church bc my fam approves the politics of the church Elites- If I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan, I prob follow her politics Social media and who I follow Values change over time as my communities, experiences, friends change My values change especially if my perception of the way things are are dif than what I was taught Generally, most ppl tend to be consistent in political values through entire life Sometimes major events cause a person to change political views

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Section of Article IV of the Constitution that ensures judicial decrees and contracts made in one state will be binding and enforceable in any other state States must respect rules and laws of another state VA license is good in CA Marriage in MD stands in OK

Constitution, Article 1 sections 8,9,10

Sections 9/10: restrictions on Congress - 10th Amendment: rights to states aren't enumerated in Constitution, are instead reserved - reserved pars: given to state Govs; any pwr not listed in Constitution for Congress that's also not prohibited in Constitution Section 8: enumerated/explicit pwrs - Congress can make all laws necessary and proper - 1) Madison + TJ + Dem-Reps: Congress can only do what is necessary to follow enumerated pwrs(ex. can hire postal workers to run post office) - 2)Hamilton+Federalists: implied pwrs- gov can do anything it wants as long as it can relate it to an expressed pwr- leaves less pwr to states

12th amendment

Separation of votes for President and Vice President Prez and VP run together, but w the way electoral college works, there's separate votes cast No longer that the runner up is VP(and so prez and VP don't work together)

Effectiveness of groups

Size National, state, local groups The larger the reach, the more impact you have How large are you? Membership Strength in numbers But also- how committed to the cause are you? More committed members= more ppl responding to a blast email Elected officials see this commitment and respond to the commitment Active voters are deeply committed- officials want to make them happy Leadership Quality leadership can ensure that an interest group/movement succeedsOccupy Wall St. v Tea Party Money Funding for staff and campaigns Organizations hire individ w the purpose of advocating for the gov

Civil War Era and Sectionalism political parties

Slavery becomes defining issue for political parties Whigs fall, Republicans take their spot Civil War resulted in Republican control of gov Prominent factions w/in the parties developed - pro-war and anti-war democrats - pro-slavery and anti-slavery democrats - radical republicans and non-radical republicans - idea that ppl w dif ideologies can find common ground and stay in same party begins

Supremacy clause

State law can't contradict fed law Each state has its own constitution and laws, but they can't conflict w fed laws

US commitment to free press

Stronger than in other countriesFreedom of Information Act Unrestricted Internet Access Almost no gov-imposed censorship on internet Other countries do restrict internet access No prior restraint- a newspaper can run any story, no one can do anything to stop it Libraries= efforts to give everyone internet access

Name recognition(incumbency advantage)

Study shows that a person is more likely to vote for you if they recognize your name ◦If I see my rep on the ballot and didn't do much research, I'm more inclined to vote for the name I recognize ◦Ppl are more likely to recognize an incumbent's name than a challenger's name ◦This is how families often hold seats for multiple generations- ppl recognize the last name, continue voting for the name they recognize

Power

The ability to get others to do what you want

Prior Restraint

The ability to stop the publishing of a news story(available in other countries)If it's totally false, you can sue after the publishing for defamation... but you can't do anything before it's published Illegal in America

Extradition

The legal process by which a fugitive from justice in one state is returned to that state

Political socialization

The process by which we develop our political attitudes, values, and beliefs Younger generations (now) tend to have more liberal views

What's the dif btwn interest group and political party?

There's no candidate of interest group Interest group might support a candidate, but they're not nominating candidates Political parties seek to control gov to promote policy/interests Interests j want to infl those w pwr Other than that, they perform basically the same function Why is this problematic for political parties? If an interest group is going to edu the public, raise money, etc, what do I need a party for? Leaders don't need a party if interest groups will do all of this for them Leads to a weakened party since leaders aren't as dependent on party Leaders can't be kicked out of party Gives a lot of freedom to leaders connected to interest groupsInterest groups don't only inform abt the issue.... They also give u a way to act on it

Margins of error per sample size

These numbers will always be the case(95% of time like all sampling errors work) •+/- 4%= 600 person sample size •+/- 3%= 1,065 person sample size •+/- 2%= 2,390 person sample size •+/- 1%= 9,425 sample size

High-tech canvassing/micro-targeting

This is the fastest growing expense for campaigns Old days: they would knock on every door Now: they have purchased info abt who lives in what house, ages of ppl, who's registered to vote, if they've voted in previous elections A campaign knows on your door if you're a reliable voter for their party to remind you to vote(personal contact incr the odds of a person voting) Governor campaigns don't knock on your door if they know you haven't voted in governor elections in past(even if you vote in prez elections)- they just want to remind ppl who they know will vote If the party knows one person in the house isn't registered to vote, but everyone else is, they may try to knock on the door and register taht person This allows campaigns to target ppl- they can't target ppl thru a tv ad On social media, online ads, they use bots/ info to target ads

Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson Tells ppl why Amer deserves indep Gov needs to protect citizens; citizens can dissolve that gov and create new one when gov doesn't protect them(Lockean view) Includes all bad things the King of Engl did to Amer Says Britain brought slavery to colonies, (untruthfully) said colonies tried to abolish it... this was deleted, prob to keep S. support + to not feel obligated to outlaw it in future License= ability to do whatever you want w/o restriction(dangerous) Liberty= structure+order+restrictions- rights come w restrictions, not with license Goal: create gov that preserves rights+ allows us to pursue happiness(restricted... can't murder and rob freely) Question= whose rights will gov protect + enforce? Gov derives its pwr from consent of the governed- citizens have right to change/abolish their gov

Devolution

Transfer of pwr from gov to states since 1990s Nat gov sheds some of its pwr to states - there were too many conflicts btwn nat gov and state govs- this should help - belief is that states can handle some things better than fed gov(smaller scale) Devolution is fairly popular w Amer Issues/problems: - Really expensive- states incur additional costs unless the programs are funded thru block/categorical grant - there are cuts in the programs when transferred from fed gov to states bc states don't have resources to fund the programs the way nat gov did Ex. Welfare - Nat gov gives pwr to states bc there's too many programs for nat gov to run - Nat gov funds welfare thru block grants- states can use money in dif ways, which means states don't put all of money to (ex) SNAP benefits - SNAP card can't buy as much now bc dif states give dif food stamp benefits to ppl who need them - States may put costs/burdens on us to receive benefits (ex. may need to show I'm looking for work; may need to do regular drug tests) that didn't exist when fed gov ran programs

Dual Federalism

Type of Federalism AKA Layer cake federalism Clearly defined roles for nat gov and clearly defined pars left for states Nat gov pars and state gov pars are distinct layers- clear where one ends and the other begins Ex. driver's licenses: each state is responsible for controlling and providing driver's licenses w/in boundaries

Cooperative Federalism

Type of Federalism AKA Marble cake federalism Fed and state pwrs overlap Fed and state govs work together Ex. taxation: both nat and state govs have pwr to tax States are responsible for anything(ex highways, tunnels) in their borders... but since those highways cross state lines, the fed gov and state govs work together to make sure they stay up to date Grants-in-Aid: fed gov gives state govs money to carry out these tasks Almost all welfare programs are run by states, and fed gov gives money(block grants) to states who run it Taxation Creation of laws Chartering banks Law enforcement Borrowing money Establishing courts

How US political parties aren't unified w executive branch compared to other countries

US: - ex. Trump wanted to build the wall but Repub(who were in control of Congress) didn't vote to make it happen- it didn't align w what they wanted bc constituencies are different(Trump reps whole US, Congress reps states/districts) - elections for Congress are on state and district level - local issues and concerns are very important to members of Congress Other countries: - elections are on national scale - local issues take backseat to national issues/executive branch agenda - ppl vote for political parties, not for individual candidates- then the party decides who will be seated in the legislature - many parts of Europe: proportional elections- each party puts in as many seats as they win percentage-wise

How US political parties are decentralized in nature compared to other countries

US: - political parties are decentralized - there's state, national, local party levels(ex. National Republican Party and then also Republicans of DC) - there's dif party platforms for state, national, local parties - bc the parties are decentralized, there might be dif policy objectives among local party and nat party ex. Republican Party of Vermont is very different from Republican Party of US - bc of this, dif state and local parties can prioritize things at that level that aren't really focused on at national level Other countries: - same ideologies throughout- no local parties like in US

How US political parties are weaker compared to other countries

US: - Ppl often choose to do smthg that doesn't agree w party's platform/ policy objectives(ex Repub votes for Dem legislation) - in US, parties don't do much if this happens- parties don't have much pwr to punish defectors - you sign up to be a repub/dem and no one can take it from you - parties are weaker, but process is more open Other countries: - parties have complete control- you need to apply and they can accept or remove you from a party - there's more party obedience bc crossing party lines means risking party status - ppl mainly join political parties to run for office- so if party doesn't like how the leader is doing, it kicks leader out - constituents may identify w/have same ideas as a party, but they aren't actually in it- they just vote for the members

US v other countries running elections

US: - there's two phases- getting nominated/winning primary election(ppl of your party vote for you) and general election - candidate-centered campaigns+individ effort: •have happened since primary elections became a thing; bc of primaries, parties no longer pick you- I can just enter myself in a primary(instead of party picks you as possible candidate like other countries)... how Trump won bc he just signed up for the primary •you as an individual go raise money, go promote issues you care abt, run campaign by yourself(you collect some money from the party but it's really on you to do it since parties have less infl on this) Other countries: - parties decide who's allowed to run for office - party-centered campaigns •party is much more in control- will only pick ppl it thinks has good chance of success •no primary process- parties decide if you are candidate

Leading questions

Used by unprofessional pollsters to produce result favorable to their side

Interest group politics

Usually involves organized interest groups Concentrated benefits, concentrated costs Only affects ppl in terms of cost if they have to adjust the price Ex. Regulations affecting price of HIV/AIDS medications - benefits ppl w HIV/AIDS - cost incurred by drug manufacturer(don't get as much profit)

From Public Opinion and Democracy(V.O. Key)

V.O. Key Public is poorly educated, always changing views/what it wants, it's impossible for gov to respond to all of the wishes(can't run gov by constantly changing policy) Negative public opinion is what drives officials who want re-election: public might not know what it wants, but it knows what it doesn't want Public opinion dyke: public channels gov away from doing things public doesn't want(there's backlash when gov does what public doesn't want) One set of opinions does matter: elite public opinion since the elite influence how many ppl think(ex. a lot off ppl follow what Greta Thunberg believes; Malala preceded mass public opinion since she raised awareness) If you want to know what the public will think, figure out what elites think Similar to elite power view

Social cleavage

Variety of factors that cause difference in opinion Region(urban v rural, mid west v south east, etc) Social class Race and ethnicity Religion These affect value systems, which in turn affects political opinions

Ways of political participation

Voting, canvassing(volunteering for campaigns), protesting, donating money, reaching out to senators/reps Traditional forms: voting, protesting, going to city/county meetings, reach out to reps Nontraditional forms: work on campaign, donate money, talk abt politics More Amer participate in politics than ever before(even if they don't vote) 20% have a yrs sign, bumper sticker, button 15% give money to candidate or party 10% attend political meeting or rally 5-6% volunteer for campaign

How to measure voter turnout

Voting-age population: The number of eligible voters after 18 Voting-eligible population: number of eligible voters after 18, minus individual who are ineligible(ex convicts) To measure: find percentage of either voting-age population or voting-eligible population from actual number of voters

Washington+National Bank

Washington agrees with Hamilton, allows first national bank to be chartered for 20 yrs Many entrepreneurs took adv of loans from the bank and Amer's econ grew

US v other countries political parties

Weaker Not unified w executive branch Decentralized in nature

What decides the election

What Decides the electionparty- third parties are way less likely to win Issues •If a Repub, talk abt conservative issues to attract Repub voters ◦2 main types of voters= prospective and retrospective: •Retrospective voters: backward looking(looking at past) ◦They don't care abt your promises, j want to know if you have anything to back up to your claims w a strong past ‣Prospective voters: forward looking(looking at future)◦They don't care abt the past, j want to know what you will do in the future ‣You need to attract both retrospective and prospective voters ◦The campaign •Need to reach voters, put yourself out there, hold events, etc ◦Finding a winning coalition •Elections are abt piecing together a bunch of dif groups and trying to get your group to be bigger than your opponent's group ◦Goal= create biggest coalition possible ◦There are some voters who will always be loyal(dark red and dark blue) ◦You need to find out what infrequent voters care enough abt to get them to vote ◦If you have a bigger coalition/more voters, you win- it's all abt who turns out to vote

Malapportionment

When we reapportion congressional districts, we don't necessarily apportion the seats out well since we're capped on number of seats •Some states may grow in pop but not all receive more seats ◦Occurs bc the pop has grown exponentially while number of seats has remained stagnant ◦Result: states lose number of seats when they shouldn't •If TX gets two more seats, then those seats come from somewhere else ◦If the district you represent no longer exists bc of this, you may lose your seat in congress w/o even losing an election •Ex. Ohio went from 16 to 15 seats so a member of congress lost their seat since the district they rep didn't exist anymore •States have almost complete control over elections: •Means that they choose who ppl will vote for ◦State legislatures get to draw congressional district lines ◦Ex. In Ohio, Tim Ryan no longer had a congressional seat since he didn't have a district ◦Ryan lost his congressional seat bc the new map the state drew eliminated his congressional district Some ppl who lose their seat then go to rep dif districts

Politics

Who gets what, when, and how Process of determining how power and resources are distributed in a society without violence Require negotiation and compromise Violence= absence of this

Entrepreneurial Politics

Widely distributed benefits, narrowly concentrated costs Ex. Ralph Nader: - he learned Amer cars not made safely, made it his mission to bring auto-safety standards to US - cost: manufacturers makes safe cars - benefit: literally everyone Ex. Environmental protection regulations - cost: factories distribute less smog - benefit: anything that breathes Ex. Affordable Care Act - cost: insurance co. must bring down price for women - benefit: women(who might need pregnancy care) don't pay more than men

Simple theory of politics

Widely distributed cost= widely distributed benefit Ex. income tax, social security Narrowly distributed cost, widely distributed benefit Ex. factories limit smog, give everyone clean air

The two-party system

Winner take all system- winner w most votes wins election Often from a well-known party Third party may get a lot of votes, but rarely gets most votes Countries w more parties: you get 10% of votes, you get 10% of seats whereas in US: you get 10% of votes, you get nothing This winner take all system reinforces the two party system

Gender gap political opinion

Women are more likely to vote in general Women are more likely to vote Democratic, favor activist gov, consider social welfare issues important

Agrippa IX

Written by Antifederalist James Winthrop 1787 Complains abt the new Constitution/ 2 general concerns of Antifederalists: 1) immigration control 2) taxes and trade Wants states to be able to decide immigration policies for themselves - he doesn't want the other states to let in immigrants Doesn't want fed gov to have control over taxes/trade w other countries - he likes that states can trade/tax separately w their own rules- has 3 worries w Constitution's new rules: 1) the gov will tax Amer to death and will restrict intl trade 2) all Amer's Econ gains will be wiped out 3) ppl abroad will mock US Number one source of conflict in US is state pwr v. national pwr

Open primary

You don't have to be registered to a party to vote in the primary, but you can only vote in one primary

Gerrymandering- packing

grouping ppl together who are politically similar ◦Ex. Repub. Pack as many dem into one congressional district as possible to prevent them from winning dif distrcits ‣So majority of Dem are in that district, giving Repub a majority in other districts •Ex. MO: St. Louis and Kansas City are each one congressional district- so Repub packed most of Dem into two districts, took all the rest of the districts so Repub have majority of seats(6/8 are Repub bc of how lines are drawn)

Nominating via convention- prez election

if you win a state, you get all that state's delegates(ex win Iowa, get Iowa delegates) National convention: dec before prez election; go thru all states, announce who won all the delegates, big celebration for whichever candidate won all the delegates ◦ Like electoral college, just instead of wining presidency, you win nomination

Superdelegate

in Dem party Elected dem officials that can vote for who ever they want(instead of ex. Va officials vote for a va candidate) Dem party is in process of eliminating number of Dem superdelegates Point of them: give party a little more control Bc the primary system takes pwr from party, gives to voters Superdelegates= elected dem officials(congressmen, past prez, mayors, etc)... so institutionally the dem party has a little sway in electing nominee thru superdelegates

Issue

real or apparent conflict btwn interests, ideas, beliefs of Dif citizens

Invisible primary

the party itself has some ability to infl voters If a party puts support behind one person, then voters will likely vote for them ◦ Ex. Dem supported Hillary Clinton, so many voters thought it was a good idea to vote them Background effort to push one candidate to forefront

Closed primary

when the primary election only allows registered members of that party to vote ◦ Anyone registered to vote can go and vote in one primary

Brutus 1

• Everything the antifederalists(against constitution) believe in • A number of antifederalists lost arguments when drafting constitution, so they came out against constitution • By giving so much pwr to central gov, states won't have enough pwr and won't get the pwr back • The pwr to tax is given to central gov... similar to how Britain's main gov had pwr to tax(Amer fought war to avoid these taxes) • Historically, no form of democracy has succeeded in large state(Roman republic= democracy, became tyrannical) ◦ Amer experiment isn't grounded in history • Federal courts would take over pwr from state courts • Didn't think ppl would trust gov since they don't know the elected leaders since gov is so big ◦ Believes Amer is just too big ◦ Representatives will be career politicians bc citizens don't pay attention/ are detached and continue to elect same ppl over and over again • Federal gov will have standing army... they will use it to oppress citizens • representation should be local ◦ Diversity of representation matters: dif groups elect dif leaders ◦ Don't pick best people. Pick ppl who understand who they're representing ◦ Federalist system is trying to create group of experts that don't necessarily care for all the ppl they represent ◦ Ppl who are dif from the ppl they represent can't represent them fairly • We don't have real separation of powers if there's checks and balances... don't have clear distinctions between dif branches ◦ Since they all work together, that can lead to tyranny

What it takes for a poll to be good

• Need a random sample of people out of entered registered voting population • If a sample is random, the demographic breakdown of ppl sampled will look like demographic breakdown of voting population of US • Need 1,000 ppl for sample to resemble voting population of US • The larger the sample of ppl= more accurate, but also more costly • 10% of ppl contacted respond to be polled(I need to contact 10k if I want 1,000 responses) Poll reveals it's incorrectness, or any stats that show it may have error... proves the poll is reliable, everything they collected is being told(it's better for the polling company to have accurate poll, but if they post an inaccurate poll that means the polling company is honest and doesn't hide any data)

Era of reform+polarization/resurgence of political parties

• The Era of Reform ◦ Calls for electoral reform ‣ Stricter voter registration ‣ Crack down on political machines(ex Boss Tweed who bribed and forced ppl to vote certain ways) • Polarization and resurgence ◦ Mid-to-late twentieth century ◦ Parties now weaker due to Progressive ◦ Creation of modern primary system- one of the biggest changes to enfranchisement ‣ Citizens used to not play any role in voting of candidates ‣ 50s-60s: citizens actually elect someone to rep them in elections ‣ Primary elections took away power from the political parties to have control over who would rep the parties • It hasn't been long that primaries have gone on • Primary elections took away pwr from parties, gave it to citizens ◦ Citizens now have power to select candidates • Sometimes voters select poor candidates and the parties are stuck w them ◦ More candidate-centered • It's now all abt which candidate can win over voters • which candidate looks the best, speaks most eloquently • Not abt the party, but abt the candidate's message and what he wants to get across

Federalist Paper no. 10

• goal: stop tyranny through republican structure of government and big country • central focus: factions(groups of ppl organized around common interest) • Danger: if a faction is a majority, they can take power/rights from minorities ◦ Purpose of gov= to protect rights; Madison is against having factions to prevent this problem • 2 ways to prevent over powerful factions/majoritarianism: ◦ Control effects of factions(2 ways): Gov needs to be structured to prevent the majority factions(will work better through representative government) ‣ 1) Ppl don't directly make decisions; power of faction is limited bc all they can do is elect representatives; faction's pwr is diluted bc those representatives are one representatives out of many ‣ 2) Having a large country + expansion; Constitution sets up ways to admit new states to union; This dilutes pwr of factions bc more ppl= more diversity • Pluralistic view of pwr: w a big country, there'll be diverse groups who conflict, which prevents one group from obtaining a majority; and, even if there's a majority in one state, their pwr is diluted bc they can only elect so many representatives, and there's a lot of other representatives with other views • Federalism: division of pwr btwn national, state, local gov ◦ With a lot of levels of gov, dif groups will be focused on dif levels ◦ Acts as a check on factions by diluting their pwr ‣ With such a large country, a majority in one town may only have one representative on a state level, which prevents that town's majority from taking over country

Antifederalists

• hate Articles of Confed • Don't have alternative to Articles of Confed- just complain abt constitution • Biggest criticism: no bill of rights= no guarantee of freedom in single Constitution

Critical election

• leads to political realignment • Election that signifies there's a political realignment occurring • Tells us that a realignment may happen • 2016: college edu voters switched from Repub to Dem... this has continued in elections since 2016 ◦ This signifies there's a realignment of the basis of support for the two parties

Federalist Paper no. 51

• talks abt 4 pillars of Amer political system: federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, popular sovereignty • More concerned abt branches of gov acting in tyrannical fashion than the ppl(federalist 10) • 51 is abt how we prevent gov/ one part of gov from becoming too powerful • important line: "ambition must be made to counteract ambition" ◦ How Madison thinks we will prevent tyranny from inside the gov bc gov will be populated by selfish/ambitious ppl who will constantly try to take over, but since there's so many of these ppl in gov, no one person will allow anyone else to consolidate pwr bc they all want pwr ‣ Congress will stop Prez from becoming tyrant bc Congress also wants pwr ‣ If Congress tries to take all pwr, courts will stop them ‣ Every branch will try to consolidate pwr, other branches will stop them out of self-interest ‣ Checks and balances work bc ppl are selfish.... Pit ambition against ambition(can't rely on leaders to be virtuous, must rely on them to be self-interested) ‣ If Congress ppl want to be ambitious and keep job in Congress, they need to listen to citizens so they can win re-election • Constitution allows gov to restrict actions of states bc national gov is supreme to state govs

National voter registration act

‣ Passed in 1996 ‣ Called the "Motor Voter Act" and is responsible for voter registration in government agencies ‣ Was successful at increasing voter registration ‣ Less successful at increasing turnout - Requires states to allow people to register to vote when applying for driver's licenses applications, or completing license renewal forms • Allows you (when you go to the post office, DMV, etc.) you can register to vote or change your voter registration status • Has increased voter registration, but has not increased voting turnout (we are stuck between 50-60% voter turnout)

Political realignment through instant party switching

◦ Ex. Repub and Dem ‣ Repub: Is made up of many dif groups of voters- rural voters, southerners, white ppl, used to be college-educated voters • For 60+ yrs, Repub candidates for office/senate/house/prez won college-educated voters ‣ 2016: majority of college educated voters don't vote for Trump(they vote for Hillary instead) ‣ 2018 midterms: more college educated voters vote Dem ‣ 2020-22: college educated voters continue voting Dem ‣ In multiple elections, college educated voters have left Repub and voted Dem ◦ must be a durable, long lasting shift - it takes a handful of national elections ◦ Over time, voters change their allegiances= political realignments ◦ Normally, some policy issue causes a political realignment ‣ Voters "decouple" from one party and realign to another ‣ Ex. Black voters: • They decoupled from Repub and realigned to Dem after passage of Civ Rights Act of 1964 ‣ 2016 realignment: • Major policy shift= shift of two parties regarding free trade+ globalization ◦ Used to be that Dem were anti-free trade, Repub were pro-free trade ◦ 2016 switched it up: Trump said globalization was bad; Clinton said globalization was good ‣ This is most likely reasons that led to a realignment among college edu voters

Political realignment when third parties are involved in between

◦ Progressives, Repub, Bull Moose, Dem ‣ Repub(+Teddy Roosevelt) absorb Progressives • Progressives become key core constituent for Repub bc they had similar trust-busting/econ views • Then, Teddy Roosevelt decoupled from Repub bc Repub changed views on trust-busting/econ views, Progressives followed suit- led to Bull Moose Party • Bull Moose party was possible bc huge group of Progressives joined Teddy Roosevelt • Then, Dem were like "hey Bull Moose we now believe what you believe" so then Bull Moose/Progressives and Teddy Roosevelt joined Dem ◦ Political realignment happened bc a group of ppl left one party, gave support to a third party ‣ Ultimately, that third party is absorbed by one of the two larger parties that embraces the third party's views(like how Dem absorbed Bull Moose) ◦ Groups decouple, join third party, eventually make their way back to larger parties ◦ 2016: libertarian party did kinda well bc a bunch of college edu voters decoupled from Repub and voted libertarian ‣ Then they went on to Dem during next election, who absorbed those voters that were taking an election in between parties ◦ If you see third parties, it's bc a group of voters has decoupled and needs to be attached somewhere else ‣ Third parties are often a stop on the way to joining dif party