POLS 206 Exam 2

What are the trends of party identification?

Republicans are relatively the same Democrats are decreasing Independents are increasing

What is external representation?

a group of politicians outside the government that organizes support to win governmental power

What is a political party?

a group that seeks political power by winning elections

What is a runoff election?

a second election to decide between top two candidates from the first round

Political Ideology

a set of beliefs, ideas, and principles to organize how we think about politics

What influences the likelihood of someone voting?

age, socioeconomic status, gender, race, etc.

What are party alignments and dealignments?

alignments: same social groups vote for the same party time after time dealignments: a decline in partisan attachment

Proportional Representation Electoral System

allows each party representation in proportion to its percent of the total vote

What is the online processing model?

an individual keeps a running tally to decide on a candidate or to form opinions

Public Opinion

attitudes about issues, events, elected officials and politics

Majority Electoral System

candidate must receive the majority of all votes cast in the relevant district

Plurality Electoral System

candidate must receive the most votes in the election (not of all votes cast)

First-Past-the-Post Electoral System

candidate that receives the most votes wins

What are the characteristics of the current party era?

divided government

What influences political participation?

education, age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.

Liberal Ideology (aka Democrats)

equality for all, for gun control, support general health care, immigration, higher taxes

Baker v. Carr (1962)

federal courts can intervene on drawing legislative districts

What did the 19th Amendment do?

gave women the right to vote "government can't take away the right to vote based on sex"

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)

government cannot restrict independents or unions in support of a candidate

What is the marketplace of ideas?

interplay of decisions or opinions that try to persuade people to take a certain position

What does "one person, one vote" mean?

legislative districts for congress and state legislatures must include roughly equal populations

What is the median voter theorem?

majority rule where the outcome selected is the one that is most preferred by the median voter

What is a safe district?

most people in the district vote the same party

What does the rational choice approach say about political parties?

most voters are moderate and parties seek voter loyalty

What is split-ticket voting?

not voting for the same party for every position (most people today straight-ticket vote)

What does the Constitution say about political parties?

nothing

What are open and closed primaries?

open: all registered voters have a say closed: only registered members of a party have a say

What are political action committees?

organizations that put contributions of their members and employees into campaigns

What is packing and cracking as it relates to districts?

packing: drawing particular districts in a way that ensures another party's candidate wins cracking: drawing districts to divide a concentration of specific voters so they are minorities in each district

What is a party activist?

partisans who spend time, energy, and effort supporting their party and its candidates

What are superdelegates?

party elites not bound to the voting results of their state primaries and can vote as they wish

What does a political party do?

pick candidates, run campaigns, give cues to voters, articulate politics, coordinate policymaking

How are interest groups different from political parties?

political parties want to influence elections, interest groups want to influence policies

What is a party platform?

principles around which party delegates can unite

What is political mobilization?

process by which people are organized for political activity

Political Socialization

process that political beliefs are formed

Voting Rights Act of 1965

prohibited racial discrimination in voting

What is the relationship between public policy and public opinion?

public opinion shapes public policy but public policies can shift public opinion

What is policy feedback?

reinforcement processes that "lock-in" policies to help bring political support

What was the Help Americans Vote Act of 2003?

required the states to use a computerized voter registration database

What is patronage?

resources available to higher officials

What is meant by social desirability?

respondents report what they think the interviewer wants to hear or is "socially acceptable"

What is retrospective and prospective voting?

retrospective: voting based on past behavior prospective: voting based on predicted future behavior

How are polls conducted?

sample, random-sampling, sampling error, random-digit dialing, internet polling

Conservative Ideology (aka Republican)

self responsibility, against gun control, against general health care, lower taxes, limit immigration

What do state and local parties do?

spend soft money to promote national, state, and local political activities

What is a referendum?

state legislature refers certain laws to voters for popular vote

How did the Democrats and Republicans begin as parties?

the Republicans were first as Federalists Democrats started as Whigs who were "anti-jackson"

What is the relationship between party competition and voter turnout?

the more competition-the higher voter turnout because people feel their vote is more important

What is an incumbent?

the person in office

What causes measurement error in public opinion polls?

the wording of the question

Why are third parties important?

they can shift political debates, give new ideas, and realign parties

What is the gender gap?

trends in the way women and men vote (females tend to vote dem, males tend to vote rep)

What is soft money?

unregulated contributions to national parties

Why are early primaries so important?

usually one candidate takes the lead so if you don't vote in them, you usually aren't given much say in the candidates

Why does the United States have two parties?

we have a plurality voting rule

When do realignments occur?

when a new party relates the governing party

When do third parties do well in elections?

when trust in the major parties is low & proportional representation systems