Unit 4 Study Guide
Explain the main differences between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals favor a strong central government and large government interaction in every day life. Conservatives are more independent and do not favor as much government intervention in every day life.4) The main differences that divide Liberals and Conservatives is that liberal's believe that we should spend less on the military, are typically less willing to commit troops to action, support the "freedom of choice", are opposed to prayer in school, in favor of affirmative action, views government as a regulator in the public interest, want to tax the rich more and spend more on the poor, plus believe we should solve the problem that cause crime and guard defendants rights carefully. While conservatives typically believe we should maintain peace through strength with our military, are more likely to support military intervention around the world, support the "right to life" are supportive of prayers in school and oppose affirmative action, plus believe that we should stop "coddling criminals" and stop letting criminals hide behind laws with defendants rights.
Why do people vote the way they do? Which reason do you think is most important and why?
Party identification, policy voting, and the evaluation of the candidates (integrity, competence, and reliability). The most important should be policy voting, but most people vote based on their party ID (easy, no work way to vote)
What are the "three heads" of political parties?
Party in the electorate, party as an organization, and party in government.
voter registration
an obstacle to voting, states with Election Day Registration are likely to have a greater voter turnout
political efficacy
citizen's faith and trust in government and their belief that they have a role in government- high levels= more likely to vote than low levels
political culture
commonly shared attitudes, beliefs, and core values about how governments should operate
party realignment
dramatic shifts in partisan preferences that drastically alter the political landscape
patronage
jobs, grants, or other special favors that are given as rewards to friends and political allies for their support
political ideology
the coherent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and scope of government held by groups and individuals
political socialization
the process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and values
reapportionment
the reallocation of the number of seats in the house of representatives after each decennial census
suffrage
the right to vote
civil disobedience
reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and suffer the consequences
national chairperson
selected by the sitting president or newly nominated presidential candidate, primary spokesperson and arbitrator, damps down factionalism, negotiating candidate disputes, and preparing the machinery
ticket-splitting
voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election
plurality (& plurality elections)
whoever has the most votes wins, doesn't have to be the majority
gender gap
women are historically more liberal than men, affected by education, number of children, and marital status
Motor Voter Act
allows for voter registration at the same time that you renew your license at age 18
critical election
an election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues and personalities
winner-take-all system
an electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election
What demographic changes have occurred in the U.S. and what are their political and public policy consequences?
1) The three waves of immigration are, northwestern Europeans, southern and eastern Europeans, and then Hispanics and Asians. Immigration is cause a demographic change in the united states that will cause its population to become a "minority majority". But there are also the elderly of the United States who are moving to the "sun-belt" region of the nation. And both the immigration and migration, politicians focus more on where the people who will vote are. For example the focus on Florida because more people over the age of 65 live there.
Why is participation in America unequal? What are the political and policy implications of unequal participation?
6) Participation in America is unequal because the politicians will focus on the issues of the people who are more likely to vote, which according to almost every study on political participation are the citizens of higher social economic status. People with higher incomes and levels of education are more likely to donate money to campaigns, and participate by contacting governmental officials and signing petitions.
What is the meaning of a political party? What functions do parties in America perform?
A team of men seeking to control the governing structure by gaining office in a duly constituted election. They pick candidates, run campaigns, give cues to voters, articulate policies, and coordinate policymaking.
What is the electoral paradox of more suffrage and less participation? Why would we expect people to vote more today and why do they not do so? How does the voter registration system affect the decision to vote?
As the citizens are given more suffrage, they tend to vote less. People tend to not vote because the government asks them to vote in many elections, they don't see the differences between the candidates, registration is too inconvenient. Because of the principle of federalism voter registration is different in each state. Registration makes voting fair. Not ballot box stuffing or one person voting more than once
How did the American two-party system evolve? How were coalitions important to this evolution? Include in your answer a discussion of party eras and critical elections.
Coalition is a group of people with a common interest upon which every political party depends. 1796-1824: The first party system. -Madison warned of 'factions.' -Federalist: first political party. 1828-1856: Jackson and the Democrats versus the Whigs. -Modern party founded by Jackson. -Whigs formed mainly to oppose Jacksonian Democrats 1860-1928: Two Republican eras. -Rose as antislavery group. -1896 election centered on industrialization. 1932-1964: The New Deal Coalition. -Forged by the Democrats. -Urban working class, ethic groups, Catholics, Jews, the poor, and Southerners. 1968-Present: Era of Divided Party government. -Divided government is when one party controls Congress and the other controls the White House. -Divided government was due to: *Party dealignment: disengagement of people from parties as evidenced by shrinking party identification. *Party neutrality: people are indifferent to the two parties.
What are some of the days in which people participate in politics? Compare conventional and unconventional participation. How do they affect policy in different ways?
Election Day, People can participate in politics with protest or writing a letter to a congressman, political participation a can be overt or subtle, violent or peaceful, organized or individual, casual or consuming. Conventional participation includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government- like voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, running for office, etc.. While unconventional participation includes protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence. Well conventional participation may take longer to be made into policy while unconventional is hard for politicians and the public to avoid because the media will showcase it making what the protesters are standing for, a top priority for people to resolve.
policy voting
Electoral choices that are made on basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues
In what ways have American political parties declined? What are the principal rivals of the political parties? Speculate on the futures on political parties in America.
Political parties are not as powerful because they have things like the Civil Service Act, which prevents a party from becoming too powerful. Also, more Independent groups are forming, which makes the Democratic and Republican parties smaller.
Describe the basic organization of American political parties. How do party politics at the local, state, and nation levels differ? Which level is most important and why?
Political parties start on the local level, move to state level, and then to national level. Due to progressive reforms, local party organizations are usually weak. State parties are better organized in terms of headquarters and budgets. In the national level: party members are elected to government, the party that controls the government has policy consequences, and they usually act on their campaign promises.
What is political socialization? What is the difference between formal and informal learning? Which do you think is most important and why? Give examples to support your answer.
Political socialization is the exposure to politics by parents and peers. Informal learning is the learning through parents and friends, while formal learning is education at school. I believe that informal learning is more important, for example, government, a real life class, is only taught for one semester. 2) Political socialization is the process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others. Only a small portion of Americans' political learning is formal, formal learning is civics or government classes in high school. Informal learning comes from family, media, and school. Informal learning is more important because a government class will end but people are always around family or media.
Explain how public opinion is measured. What scientific techniques are used to measure public opinion? What are the arguments against public opinion polling?
Public opinion is measured by polls and surveys, but can be inaccurate when they are over information that the public has little knowledge about. Arguments have to do with margin of error and sampling error.3) Public opinion is measured with polls, there are many different polls that get used to measure public opinion, but Random sampling and its variations like stratified sampling are some of the scientific techniques that are used to measure public opinion. Because of the measurement of public opinion politicians are going to worry more about how they are doing in the polls, or discourage voting if a specific candidate is doing poorly in the polls, and public opinion sways votes based on popularity.
What factors determine why people choose to vote? What groups are most likely to vote and what groups are least likely to vote? What are the implications of these differences in electoral participation?
Schedules, knowledge and interest in politics, and family situations determine why people choose to vote. Educated white males, and retired people are more likely to vote because they have more time and a better education. People with strong party loyalty are also inclined to vote. The implications are that the outcome doesn't reflect views of all citizens, but more reflects the views of those who participate.
minority majority
Texas is a minority majority state; there is a huge population of the minority in one area, so they become the majority
What is the Electoral College and how does it work? What biases in the electoral process does it introduce? Should the Electoral College system be preserved or abolished?
The Electoral College is an indirect method of election for the president. Biases towards states with a larger population. The electoral college should be preserved.
How has party identification changed over the years and what affect has it had on elections?
The parties have developed into new parties. They started with federalists and antifederalists, and have transformed into Democrats and Republicans, with a rising group of Independents. This affects elections because the presidential candidates focus more heavily on swing states than safe states.
What are the political and policy consequences of having a two-party system? How gave third parties made a difference?
The two-party system lacks uniformity, keeps government small, and makes cutting government programs more difficult. Third parties are 'safety valves' for popular discontent and they bring new groups and ideas in politics.
How has the America election system evolved? How did the election of 2000 contrast with elections of the past, particularly the elections of 1800 and 1896?
Who could vote and how we vote. Who? Property owning white males over 21, All white males, All men (15th amendment), Women could vote (19th amendment), 18 year old (26th amendment). How? Primaries and caucuses, campaigning, media, there was more focus on state legislatures in the 1800's. Campaigns started in 1896.
party identification
a citizen's personal affinity for a political party, usually expressed as a tendency to vote for the candidates of that party
national convention
a party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nomination a presidential vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform
party machines
a party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity
melting pot
a place where a variety of races, cultures, or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole
closed primaries
a primary election in which only a party's registered voters are eligible to cast a ballot
open primaries
a primary election in which party members, independents, and sometimes members of the other party are allowed to participate
proportional representation
a voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party
demographics
gender, race and ethnicity, age, and religion
party dealignment
people become distrustful of both parties