4.1-4.10 ap government

Non-response Bias

Certain groups are more likely to respond to public opinion polls than others (polling in a mall ex: people who ask for a minute you may say no, or others may feel uncomfortable so they agree) -this person will only receive data from the people who said yes and precisely no data from people who said no (another reason for error in political statics)

Conservatives

Cherish established institutions and seek to preserve them for the good of society -they want to conserve the good things and overturn those institutions seen as a threat, therefore conservatives tend to emphasize smaller government which provides fewer services to the public

Tracking Poll

Conducted over time, usually with the same group of people, gives information on how the group feels about a given issue. -helps candidates shape his or hers campaign promises especially when the election is near. Responses can be used to judge election results before the official count is obtained.

supply-side economics

Conservatives theoretical support for (fiscal policy opinion) support business spending (if more goods are injected into the economy then such an action will shore up economic turmoil) conservatives prose to do that by keeping government regulations business to a minimum and lowering taxes so that people will have more money to spend on those goods

Liberal ideology

Emphasizes civil rights for the marginalized and supports the efforts of the social justice movement to ensure everyone has equal access to civil liberties Emphasize government involvement in public affairs (caring for the poor, regulations on businesses, intervention in the economy) -on social issues, liberals want the government out (this includes, marijuana, abortion, same sex marriage, etc.) -government should be involved in education, but not in paying for religious education (argues that is violated the establishment clause)

Free Enterprise

Laissez-faire economics As little government in the economy as possible -Conservatives want the government to stay out of the affairs of businesses and allow the free market to determine what's best. -Liberals want the government to intervene with appropriate regulations to ensure safety and equality in the workplace.

Liberals

Push for new reforms in order to make society more just and equitable -liberal is another word for free -wants changes as long as those changes are going in the direction of increased justice and equity for all

Neutral questions

Questions are neither confusing nor leading

Benchmark Poll

Taken at the beginning of a candidates run and gives the campaign a benchmark against which they can compare future polls to see how the candidate is faring. -focus on a candidates messaging

Rule of Law

The belief that every citizen is equal under the law, no one has special privileges -Conservatives see the laws themselves as embodying equality and therefore they emphasize the letter of the law. -Liberals agree that laws embody equality with conditions: emphasize the unequal application of laws in regards to, minority groups.

Bandwagon Effect

When people join a cause because it seems popular or support a candidate who is leading in the polls -people are more likely to get behind a candidate who is polling well because at the end of the day people want to back a winner not a loser (Candidates with higher polling numbers have an easier time raising funds because no one would want to give their money to a losing candidate)

Mass survey

When pollsters put together a questionnaire that can be given to as many people as possible -they can only measure quantitate data -they do it because it public opinion affect elections and the outcomes of policy debates

Dream Act

addressed immigration, more specifically the situation of immigrant who entered the country illegally but were minors. -aimed to create a set of criteria though which those minors would not be deported but could become American citizens (never passed) (favored by liberal democrats; liberal ideology)

polls

asking people what they believe and hope they respond -if a poll is created with scientific rigor, then it is the best tool for measuring public opinion process includes: -writing questions that are free from bias as possible presenting questions to a small, randomized group of people -Generalizing results to the greater population

liberal tend to

believe that monetary policy is too slow to effect real change

Relationship between public opinion polls and elections and policy debates can be affected

by how people view the reliability of those opinion polls

Entrance/Exit polls

conducted at voting sites that ask people how they voted. -most desirable because they are measuring actual voters.

Monetary Policy

decision the government makes about how much money should be in the economy (taking money in an out such as dollar bills) **how much money is in the economy

Fiscal Policy

decisions the government makes about government spending and taxation (where money should be spent) **government spending and taxation -liberals are big spenders(reasoning behind it in Keynesian economics) -conservatives want less government programs and lower taxes (reasoning behind it is Supply-side economics)

Conservative Ideology

emphasizes traditional social structures and existing structures of authority -emphasize limited government in public affairs -has strong stances on crime and punishment -Champions states' rights above federal power -However, government should have mandates on abortion, and marriage -Want government out of gun ownership, and education, and religious beliefs

assilimation

exists a normative set of American cultural values that all Americans should assimilate to

Conservatives tend to

favor using monetary policy to stabilize the economy

Baby Boomers

folks who were born after World War II up till about the mid-60s the prosperity of the 50s combined with men and women retuning home from war meant that people were making Babies like mad and so this is a huge generation they came of age during the tumultuous 60s and thus they learned to appreciate the changes better than their parent and that meant they were slightly more liberal as a whole than the silent generation though they still reliably voted conservative

Opinion poll

helps get a feel for the public's opinion on a certain topic or discerning people's feeling on certain candidates or policies.

generational effects can determine

how you think about politics but also life cycle effects contribute

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

law addressing welfare policies which provided government funds to the poor limited welfare payments to five years (conservative ideology)

Liberal arguments

liberals reject the idea of making English the official language -see it as a tool of oppression, and in some cases, racist -to require immigrants to learn English at the expense of their native language is tantamount to an erasure of their cultural heritage

kaynesian economics

liberals theoretical support for (fiscal policy opinion) -support government spending Increasing federal spending on infrastructure programs

Federal reserve (FED)

monetary policy is under the control of the federal reserve; does this by: 1. buying and selling government bonds 2. setting reserve requirements banks (mandate how much money the banks have to keep in their faults) 3. setting interest rates

Party Platform

set of policy goals published by the party which tells you the kinds of legislation they would pursue should their candidate win an election.

Conservative arguments

such a law should save billions in federal and state spending -hospitals are mandated to provide translators to patients who need them -many schools must hire bilingual teachers and counselors -some states spend millions out of their election budgets to print ballots in several languages

Party is not

the exact synonym for the ideology (you may agree with both ideologies, but one more so)

Types of Polls

-Opinion poll -benchmark poll -tracking poll -Entrance/Exit polls (Purpose for all is to measure public opinion)

Generation X

-born between the mid 60s and 1980s -these were folks who grew up with lots of divorce and were the first to really use the internet as a generation - -as a group they were sightly more liberal than their parents in the baby boomer generation partly because they're more ethnically diverse than either of the two previous generations

Millennials

-born in the period 1981 to 1996 -this group is even more liberal than any of the previous generations -more ethnically diverse than exert were -have leaned hard into the liberal policies of the Democratic Party and they're more likely than not to believe that racial discrimination plays a big role in society -theyre more favorable toward immigrants than the previous generation and in general they are more favorable towards what could be considered more socialists policies with significant government intervention

Life cycle effects

-contribute to political socialization as weak ' -whatever stage of life a person is in will contribute to their political beliefs and behavior -can change over time as you progress through different Stages of life.

Sample Methodology

-first a sample needs to be representative (having the same characteristics as the larger population it's measuring) -Also needs to be random (Everyone in a given population has an equal chance of being included)

Limited Government

A government whose limits are well-defined and is restrained through the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances -Conservatives want to define strong boundaries of federalism which leads to less government interference in people's lives -Liberals embrace the need for government intervention in society for the sake of the greater good

Generational Effects

A person's voting behavior and political ideology is very much influenced by the generation into which they were born.

Political ideology

An interlocking set of ideas that form the bias for political decision making --political ideology basically follow along a spectrum between liberal and conservative ideology

Equality of Opportunity

Believe that every American, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, etc. deserves equal footing to go after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. -Conservatives believe in the power of meritocracy which means everyone rises in America based on their own toil and sweat (what they call the American Dream, of working hard to get to the dream) -Liberals agree with the idea of a meritocracy with condition: believe that not all groups start that climb in the same place.

Sampling Error

-Always a chance that the sample will not exactly represent the general population -if a poll has a plus or minus 3 sampling error, that's considered a good and representative poll

Republican Party

-GOP (Grand Old Party) -most closely aligns with conservative ideology (Know this because of Party Platform; getting government out of the economy) -party of personal responsibility

Public Opinion Effect on policy debate

-if polls indicate that a majority of Americans favor a given policy, then politicians are more likely than not to vote for it

Non scientific polls can affect the relationship between polling data and elections as well

-many Americans don't know the difference between these kinds of polls and scientifically rigorous polls, and thus lump them all together further degrading the public's trust in polling numbers.

Democratic Party

-most closely aligns with liberal ideology **preamble (its broke so protest and fix it)

Sample

-pollsters always measure public opinion by means of a sample (percentage of a sample should match up with the percentage of the greater population) -After everything, the pollster can generalize this to the greater population that the sample represents

the four generations of todays adults fit in to a tidy political pattern

-the older you are the more likely you are conservative and the younger you are the more likely you are liberal

foreign policy for silent generation

-these people grew up in the midst fo the Cold War and thus generally supported American intervention abroad in order to stop the spread of communism notably in the Vietnam war

Individualism

places emphasis on self- reliance and independence -conservatives value self-centered individualism which emphasizes the interests of the individual above the interests of society. -Liberals value enlightened individualism which emphasizes the interests of society above the interests of the individual.

political socialization

the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions factors: -family (children often have the same politcal ideology as their parents) -Schools (Can shape the people's ideologies in direct and indirect ways) -Peers (we adjust our belieifs and language accordingly) -Media -Civil/religious orginizations ( ex: girl scouts, boy scouts, membership in a church. Our ideology belieif is their belief which has an influence) -Globilization (the increasing interconnectedness of the world by means of economic partnerships. We are all influenced by factors well beyond our boarders ex: immigrants counter to our strong belief in the triumph of the indiviual even so in some cases such a belelief might take root and affect a person's political socilization

Multiculturalism

values and upholds the distinct cultures of the people that live here

Liberatarian Ideology

want the least amount of government intervention possible, including social issues (government is only good for protecting person property rights, upholding individual liberty, and ensure that nothing hinders voluntary trade) -the want no regulation on businesses and minimal government programs -with economic issues, libertarians lean more conservative -with social issues, libertarians lean more liberal (don't care about same sex marriage)

Social Desriability Bias

when people filling out surveys give a socially desirable answer, even if they don't follow through with it (One of the errors to why political statics can be wrong) (a lot of people who said they were going to have vote, may have not voted because of the social factor)

Focus group

when pollsters measure the opinion of a small group of people -Measures qualitative data (provides more in-depth data of how people feel and think) -benefit: respondents can talk about their opinion at length rather than just being confined to a couple of options on a survey question -aren't considered scientific polling because their opinions cant be statistically generalized to the larger population -however, can help a candidate refine his or her message

Silent generation

youth of the 50's that seemed to conform to middle class culture without question; they had. high value on religious belief in church and attendance. -this adhered to a social order that attached rigid gender roles to men and women -folks in this generation were generally conservative, so this leaning led some of the to oppose the great cultural upheaval in the 1960' with the counter-culture movement of the women' s rights movement and they gay liberation movement -these movement tore apart the cultural fabric which silence grew up with -silent generation consistently votes for candidates who style themselves as tough on crime and terrorist which is generally a conservative position