Pols Unit 3

The Referendum and the Recall

24 states allow for the referendum, a measure proposed or passed by a legislature that is referred to the electorate for approval 24 states also allow for the initiative, a process by which citizens may petition to put a proposal on the ballot for public vote 18 states allow for a recall, the removal of a public official by popular vote

How Voters Decide: Candidates' Characteristics 1

A candidate's personal attributes—race, ethnicity, religion, gender, geography, and social background—influence voters' decisions Voters tend to prefer candidates more like themselves because they assume that such candidates are likely to have views close to their own

Party Systems

A party system is the constellation of parties that are important at any given moment It can be thought of as a state of equilibrium in which the two major parties compete with stable coalitions for a period of time

measuring public opinion

A poll is a scientific instrument for measuring public opinion A century ago, political leaders utilized imperfect measures of public opinion such as crowd size and the applause they could hear Political leaders use polls to determine whether to run for office, what policies to support, and how to make appeals

Socialization

A process through which individuals assimilate community preferences and norms through social interactions Important agents of socialization: Family Education Work Social groups Political conditions

Median Voter Theorem

A proposition predicting that when policy options can be arrayed along a single dimension, majority rule will pick the policy most preferred by the voter whose ideal policy is to the left of half of the voters and to the right of half of the voters The candidate whose position is closest to the median voter's position is likely to win

Measuring Public Opinion: Samples

A sample is a small group selected to represent the most important characteristics of an entire population In order to get a random sample in national polls, pollsters often use random-digit dialing, in which a random-number generator produces a list of as many 10-digit phone numbers as the pollster deems necessary MORE: Surveys that do not use random samples can provide wildly misleading results. After the first general election presidential debate in 2016, Donald Trump claimed he had won the debate according to all of the "online polls." Trump was referring to polls that are not scientific that allow people (or even computers) to vote many times. In short, they were not based on a representative sample of debate watchers. John Oliver discussed the issue in a segment on Last Week Tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9FBMYBaMsg

Which of the following groups is most likely to support the Democratic nominee for president in 2020? white, evangelical Protestants African American voters wealthy bankers rural voters

African American Voters

What It Takes to Win

All campaigns face similar challenges: How to bring people in How to raise money How to coordinate activities What message to run How to communicate with the public There is no single best way to run for office Campaigns are long and costly

Shaping Opinion: Government and Politicians

All governments attempt to influence citizens' beliefs, but their efforts are counteracted by interest groups, media, and politicians opposed to those in power Presidents have been actively "going public" for decades to influence how the public perceives their policy initiatives They are not always successful, however

Analyzing the Evidence: Interest Group Influence 3

Although the overall population of interest groups has fewer citizen groups than business groups, as seen in the figure on the facing page, not all groups are equally influential. Baumgartner and his colleagues interviewed 315 lobbyists and government officials about 98 randomly selected policy issues. Citizen groups were more likely to be mentioned as being important in the debate than any other type of group. More than a quarter of the interest groups seen as being influential were citizen groups.

The Two-Party System and the 2016 Election

America has only two major parties and has had the same two major parties since the 1850s In 2016, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump ran as outsiders against the "political establishment," but it is notable that both found it necessary to attach themselves to one of the major parties to pursue their goals

variety of opinion

Americans do hold common opinions on some issues, such as equality of opportunity, but do not hold a single view on most of them What we're interested in knowing: Evaluations of individuals and institutions Assessments of public policies Assessments of current circumstances Political orientations

Groups and Pluralism 1: interest group

An interest group is an organized group of individuals or organizations that makes policy-related appeals to government Interest groups enhance democracy by representing individuals, encouraging political participation, and educating the public But interest groups represent the private interests of a few, not the public interest Madison's answer to this was diversity Discussion: In Federalist 10, James Madison argued that there is a dilemma inherent in interest group activity. On the one hand, allowing individuals to form groups to press their demands on government is the essence of freedom, and limiting that freedom would be tyranny. In Madison's words, this cure would be "worse than the disease." The answer, for Madison at least, is to have a multitude of factions. The greater the diversity of interests competing for their own private benefit, the less likely it is that any one of them will dominate the system. In other words, these interests will regulate one another, and the result will be compromise and moderation.

The rise of the Australian ballot had all of the following effects EXCEPT banning voters under 21 from voting. encouraging ticket splitting. helping incumbent candidates. making the ballot longer.

Answer: A. banning voters under 21 from voting.

Can corporations spend money on political campaigns? yes no

Answer: A. yes...pretty much MORE: Corporations cannot give money to a candidate campaign, nor can they spend money in coordination with a candidate campaign. But in Citizens' United v. FEC (2010), the Supreme Court ruled that corporations may spend unlimited amounts to engage in political speech during a campaign so long as the message is not coordinated with a candidate. In effect, the "noncoordination" requirement is easy to skirt, as coordination would be exceedingly difficult to prove. In addition, because they are not constructing candidate campaigns, the contributions and expenditures from these 501c(4)s and Super PACs are not subject to as much and as frequent disclosure to the public as candidate campaigns are.

Which of the following plays the most important role in voters' decisions? candidates' characteristics partisan identification issues position on the ballot

Answer: B. partisan identification

Voters are distributed evenly in Groups 1-5. Which position should a candidate take on the issue? X1 X2 X3 X4 X5

Answer: C. X3 Figure 11.6 demonstrates the median voter theorem. Candidates are pushed toward the position X3 because if their opponent takes the position to the right, all the voters to the left AND a few to the right will support the candidate with the position at X3. The same principle applies if the opponent takes a position on the other side of X3. Candidates find themselves drawn toward the median voter's position on the issue in order to maximize support.

What is your party affiliation? Democratic Republican not sure/other In the 2018 congressional elections, are you planning to vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives? Democratic Republican don't know/not sure/not voting

Answer: No correct answer. If you are using clickers and your clicker software allows you to generate cross-tabs, this polling question can be used to show the strong correlation between party affiliation and voting.

Should voters be required to provide government-issued identification in order to vote?

Answer: There is no clear answer to this question. Those in favor of requiring voter identification argue that there are concerns about voter fraud. Those opposed argue there is no evidence that voter fraud occurs on a widespread level and that voter identification requirements are part of a systematic effort to limit the voting rights of the 10 percent of legitimate voters who do not have government-issued IDs.

Why Parties?: Collective Choice in Government

As permanent coalitions in policy-making processes, parties facilitate action As individual political actors sharing a label, members are incentivized to work together While there are disagreements among those actors, they have more in common than with the other party Action would be unthinkable in Congress without parties Discussion: The discussion of abortion politics in The Policy Principle box on p. 496 provides a good case for class discussion of the way in which collective action even within one party can be difficult. In the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the Republican Party quickly moved toward a platform position (by 1980) supporting a constitutional amendment protecting "the right to life for unborn children." But, partly because of some measure of internal disagreement within the party, elected Republicans at the national level have not enacted many policies at the federal level to curtail abortion rights. The reason is that there remain some parts of the party that are not on the same page on this issue, and party officials also have to worry about alienating too many independent voters who do not support the party platform's more explicit stance.

Redistricting

Because of the one-person, one-vote standard, legislative districts are not static They are redrawn every 10 years and, in most states, the power to do this resides with the state legislature Various interests seek to influence how district lines are drawn to increase the likelihood of particular outcomes

beliefs

Beliefs reflect how people understand the world and the consequences of actions

Why Parties?: Collective Action in the Electoral Process

Building campaign organizations requires collective action Parties get their structure from the electoral process; in every district, there is party unit Smaller groups band together to find power within a major party A two-way street: groups provide parties with resources, and parties provide groups with influence over government Discussion: When we imagine parties as coalitions of smaller groups, it is easier to understand why American political parties have traditionally been less disciplined organizations than their counterparts in other industrialized democracies are, particularly those in multiparty systems. Parties in America are sometimes temporary and shaky coalitions of groups that are not necessarily natural allies

Campaign Tactics

Campaigns today are longer than ever before, and they employ Television, radio, direct mail, and Internet ads Get-out-the-vote activities Campaign events such as rallies and debates All of this is very expensive, so there is a complex web of laws surrounding campaign finance

Functions of Parties: Recruiting Candidates

Candidates must be found to run for each of the thousands of elective offices at the national, state, and local levels Finding candidates is not easy, as running for office and holding office are difficult Finding good candidates who can raise the necessary money and who can appeal to the public is even harder Discussion: This function of parties is not discussed much, but it is a critical lynchpin in partisan activity. Campaigns are more and more expensive, and media scrutiny is more and more intrusive all the time. Good candidates are those who can withstand the media scrutiny and who are willing to do the work of raising money, building campaign organizations, and campaigning. This usually requires sacrifices in terms of family and career, and for many would-be candidates, the price is too high. They "choose not to run," as Jerry Seinfeld once famously said!

what is public opinion?

Citizens' attitudes about political issues, leaders, institutions, and events May be understood on two levels: Individual: what one person thinks about issues, leaders, institutions, and events Aggregate: the accumulation of these individual beliefs as expressed in polls, votes, town meetings, protests, and so on Preferences, beliefs, and choices matter

Interest Groups Facilitate Cooperation

Collections of individuals might have common goals and might benefit from cooperation, but cooperation is not easy Individuals may not see their common goals or may lack individual incentives to work together

The Fifth Party System: New Deal Coalition, 1932-68

Democrats FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ Solid South, plus African Americans, union members, Catholics, and Jews Republicans Eisenhower Yankee New England and the Midwest Business interests, Protestants

The Second Party System: Birth of Mass Mobilization

Democrats Jackson, Van Buren Stronger in the South and the West Opposed national bank and tariffs Whigs Harrison, Tyler Stronger in the Northeast National bank, tariffs, internal improvements

Group Affiliations with Parties

Democrats: Poor Urban Union members African American Jewish Latina/o Women Republicans: Wealthy Rural Business community Whites Protestants Men Discussion: One useful exercise is to have students discuss which party they think is most likely to grow in the near future if the parties maintain the same coalition of demographic groups supporting them. In other words, based on population trends, which coalition would you rather have supporting you 50 years from now? From there, you might ask students to speculate on what kinds of policies each party would be wise to support, given the voters they need to attract.

Accuracy of Final Pre-Election Polls

Despite its various difficulties, polling has become fairly accurate, particularly on questions such as preference of presidential candidates, where the question is highly salient and voters have high levels of information.

Party Organization

Discussion: Ask students to go to the two major party national websites and compare the organizing and fund-raising tools they see there. One interesting aspect of this exercise is how similar the two websites are in terms of their efforts to reach out to voters, raise money, and organize voters for the fall campaigns. You might ask students which website they think is a more effective organizing tool. http://www.gop.com/ http://www.democrats.org/

The Electoral College in 2016

Discussion: Despite a sizable deficit in the popular vote (nearly 3 million votes and about 2 percent), Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College by winning narrow victories in several states including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Trump won in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania by a combined net margin of less than 80,000 votes; Hillary Clinton would have won the Electoral College if she had won these three states.

Independent Expenditures per Election Cycle

Discussion: Independent expenditures exploded in the last six years and now amount to nearly $2 billion.

How and Why Do Interest Groups Form?

Discussion: Pluralist theory suggests that interest groups form whenever there is a group interest to be organized. But this does not always happen. Indeed, some types of interests seem to form more easily than others do. The data in Table 13.1 show that executives and professionals seem to organize more easily than other interests do. Some groups, such as college students, are "latent groups" because they may have common interests but do not necessarily form into an interest group.

Vote Shifts between 2012 and 2016

Discussion: Probably the most important shift in the electorate in 2016 had to do with levels of educational attainment. Voters with higher levels of education swung toward the Democrats while voters with lower levels of educational attainment swung toward Trump and the Republicans. It is too early to say if this big shift will be enduring.

Campaign Finance Regulation

Discussion: The rules surrounding campaign finance are complex. More importantly, the campaign finance regime is quickly being overrun by two important changes. One is the rise of independent spending by wealthy individuals and wealthy candidates. Because of the Buckley v. Valeo (1976) decision, campaign expenditure limits are not allowed. As contribution limits have remained relatively low, candidates are using independent expenditures to bypass the traditional system of campaign finance. Perhaps more significant is the second change resulting from the Court's decision in Citizens' United v. FEC (2010). This decision allowed corporations to engage in unlimited spending so long as the spending is uncoordinated with a candidate campaign. In effect, however, the spending may be on behalf of a particular candidate or party, and this has the potential to dramatically alter the campaign finance environment.

Congressional Election Results: House

Discussion: The swing back toward Republicans in the 2010 elections was decisive and stunning. While most incumbents from both parties were still reelected, Democrats fared much worse than Republicans did. Just 78.8 percent of Democrats were reelected, a figure significantly lower than any previous election cycle in recent decades. Democrats made only modest inroads into the Republican House majority in 2012 before losing even more ground in 2014. While the Democrats again made marginal gains in both the House and Senate in 2016, Democrats are concerned that the very different midterm election electorate will again lead to losses in 2018.

The Solution to the Prisoner's Dilemma

Discussion: This figure can be difficult to read, so it is worth explaining this to students. Look at the prisoner's dilemma from the perspective of Prisoner A. Prisoner A is faced with a binary decision, and the possible outcomes for Prisoner A are listed in the darker triangles. If Prisoner A snitches, his outcomes are three years or zero years. If Prisoner A does not snitch, his outcomes are six years and one year. Obviously, Prisoner A is better off snitching no matter what Prisoner B does. The same is true for Prisoner B. So, it is individually rational for BOTH Prisoner A and Prisoner B to snitch. But what is the collectively rational thing to do? If we add up the total years in prison (spent by Prisoner A and B) in all four quadrants, we find that the smallest collective number of years in prison is in the lower right quadrant. This only happens if both Prisoners A and B don't snitch. So, the best collective outcome requires that both Prisoners behave in a way that is not individually rational. This is why the prisoner's dilemma is a dilemma.

Americans' Party Identification

Discussion: Up until the 1980s, Democrats had a consistent and decided advantage over Republicans in party identification. Today, Democrats have a very small advantage over Republicans. The big change has been the rising number of independent voters. Many of these independent voters tend to lean toward one party or the other, but it is still significant and telling that so many Americans do not want to be identified with one or the other of the two major parties. One useful thing to do in class is to pull up the most recent data on party identification and ask students to discuss the recent trends they observe. Party identification data can be found here: http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/party-identification.

Congressional Redistricting

Discussion: While most state legislatures handle redistricting, an increasing number of states either consult with an outside commission or have the commission draw new boundaries entirely. California recently became one of the states to employ a commission to draw district boundaries. The website for the commission has a lot of interesting resources that can be used to show students some redistricting politics in action, including some videos of the actual work of the commission: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/.

Demographic Differences in Voter Registration Rates, 2012

Discussion: While voter registration is an obstacle to higher voter turnout, it does serve some important purposes beyond avoidance of voter fraud. One important issue is that your home address determines which elections you participate in. We live in particular legislative districts at federal, state, and even county and city levels that determine which legislative race we should participate in. In addition, primary elections are sometimes closed to those registered in a particular party, and registration helps to determine electoral composition for these party activities.

Duverger's Law

Duverger's Law of politics, formalized by Maurice Duverger, states that plurality-rule electoral systems will tend to have two political parties Voters do not want to waste their votes, so if they understand that the more extreme candidate cannot win, they will vote for the more moderate alternative

Organized Interests Are Predominantly Economic

Economic interest is one of the main purposes for which individuals form groups Examples of groups that protect economic interests: American Farm Bureau Federation AFL-CIO American Medical Association Discussion: Groups that are formed to protect economic interests find it easier to organize because members readily see the benefits of organization (economic) weighed against the costs. Individuals organizing to pursue a social policy agenda may have a more difficult time weighing the costs (financial and other) against the benefits, as the costs and benefits are in different units.

Where Americans Vote: Electoral Districts

Elected officials represent people in specific places For the most part, the United States employs single-member districts; the electorate is allowed to elect only one representative from each district Presidential elections are a special case in which the Electoral College is employed Discussion: The use of single-member districts for House elections is not required by the Constitution. It is something that evolved over time. By 1967, however, Congress required the use of single-member districts in the Apportionment Act. This was passed not long after the Supreme Court's decision in Baker v. Carr, which required that legislative districts be equal in population so as to enforce the proposition of one person, one vote.

Institutions of Elections

Election rules consist of a mix of federal and state laws, court decisions, and local administrative practices Four basic questions of election law: Electoral composition: Who votes? Ballot access and form: How do we vote? Electoral districts: Where do we vote? Criteria for victory: What does it take to win?

Measuring Public Opinion: Survey Design, measurement error

Even with a large, representative sample, a poll may provide a misleading result or measurement error Measurement error is the failure to identify the true distribution of opinion within a population because of errors such as ambiguous or poorly worded questions MORE: A different example of a theory of measurement error is the so-called Bradley effect. During the 2008 campaign, there were some who believed that polls were overestimating then-Senator Barack Obama's support because, out of a fear that they might appear prejudiced if they were not supporting a black candidate, polling respondents would tell pollsters they were supporting Obama. This idea was referred to as the Bradley Effect because polls in Tom Bradley's 1982 campaign for mayor of Los Angeles had suggested he was much further ahead than the eventual margin of his victory. It turned out that the Bradley effect was pure mythology. Similarly, in 2016, many argued there might be "shy Trump voters" who were not showing up in public polling. There does not appear to have been any such effect in national polls, though it is the case that Trump's support in some key Midwestern swing states was understated in state-level polls

The First Party System

Federalists Washington, Hamilton, Adams Northeasterners, mercantile and business interests Democratic-Republicans Jefferson, Madison Southerners, agrarian interests The Federalists disappeared after the War of 1812

Public Opinion and Political Knowledge

Few Americans devote sufficient time, energy, or attention to politics to really understand all the issues The costs of gathering information may be high, and the benefits may be low We can think of examples, however, in which low levels of political information can be harmful to groups of people

elections and democracy

Frequent elections are key to democracy In elections, principals (citizens) choose agents to act on their behalf But there are two problems for principals: Adverse selection—the problem of incomplete information, of choosing alternatives without fully knowing the details of available options Moral hazard—the problem of not knowing all aspects of the actions taken by an agent

Gender and Public Opinion: gender gap

Gender gap—a distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men The gender gap has been an enduring feature of American elections for some time, with women consistently voting more Democratic and men voting more Republican

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the apportionment of voters in districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to a political party Gerrymandering is creating less of a bias than in previous decades One reason for this is that voters are already largely segregated into communities of like-minded voters

What Do Groups Need? Members, Money, Leadership

Groups with more members are more powerful AARP is powerful because it represents so many active voters Groups need money to sustain the organization and to fund their activities (lobbying, voter education, etc.) Groups with access and organizational discipline are more successful

Analyzing the Evidence: Electoral Impact of Candidate Religiosity

How does the public's perception of political parties' social group profiles affect the connection between individuals' party ties and their voting decisions? To find out, we presented survey respondents with descriptions of candidates that were identical except for what they said about the candidate's religion. We found that the support of Republican and Democratic identifiers for the candidate changed markedly with the candidate's religious profile. Our findings suggest that because voters make assumptions about candidates' political orientations based on their social characteristics, these characteristics are quite important for electoral behavior. We randomly varied what we told survey respondents about the religiosity of a hypothetical state legislative candidate with a nonpartisan issue profile (focusing on goals such as good jobs, a strong economy, and efficient government) and no identified party affiliation. In the baseline (or control) condition, no mention was made of the candidate's religious orientation. When we told respondents that the candidate was moderately religious ("a man of faith") or strongly religious (a "deeply religious" person with a "personal relationship with God"), support decreased among Democrats and increased among Republicans. When we described the candidate as a secular critic of religion in public life (a "man of science" belonging to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State), support strongly increased among Democrats and strongly decreased among Republicans.

Political Ideology

Ideology is a comprehensive way of understanding political or cultural situations It is a set of assumptions about the way the world and society works that help us organize our beliefs, information, and new situations Most Americans describe themselves as either liberals or conservatives

Fairness and Bias

If the vote were divided equally between the two major parties and the lines drawn were "fair," we would expect each party to win half the legislative seats Political scientists have found less bias in district boundaries over time, but bias is greatest in states where the legislature controls redistricting and where there is one-party control

The Logic of Collective Action

In The Logic of Collective Action, Mancur Olson argues that individuals organizing into groups face the prisoner's dilemma They are tempted to let others pay the costs No individual is incentivized to work for the collective good This difficulty is most severe in large groups Thus, groups of individuals who share an interest often do not organize to pursue it Discussion: The difficulty is most severe in large groups because (1) individuals are most anonymous in large groups, so nobody will know if an individual chooses not to contribute; (2) it is easy for individuals in a large group to believe that their individual contributions will not make a difference; and (3) there is nobody to enforce cooperation and hold individuals accountable.

origins and nature of opinion PIS

Individual opinions are a products of one's personality, social characteristics, and interests Opinions are also shaped by institutional, political, and governmental forces that make it more likely we'll hold some beliefs and less likely we'll hold others

Analyzing the Evidence: Candidate Religion and Partisan Voting

Individuals identify with a political party for many reasons, including their own social group memberships and feelings toward other social groups. To what extent do the social group characteristics of political candidates affect the connection between citizens' party identifications and their support for those candidates? One important social group for many people is religion. In recent decades, the American public has come to view the Republican Party as the party of religious people and the Democratic Party as the party of nonreligious people.

Types of Selective Benefits

Informational: newsletters, periodicals, training programs, conferences, and other information Material: goods and services Solidary: friendship, networking Purposive: accomplishments

How Do Interest Groups Influence Policy?

Insider strategies Directly influencing decision makers Pursuing advocacy through the courts Outsider strategies Educating the public Campaigning and contributing to candidates Many groups employ a mix of insider and outsider strategies

Interest Group Influence: Using the Courts

Interest groups seek to influence policy through the courts by Bringing suits directly on behalf of their group Financing suits brought by others Filing amicus curiae briefs Brown v. Board of Education (1954) is an example of a case brought by groups (notably the NAACP) to advance a policy agenda

Interest Group Influence: Mobilizing Public Opinion

Interest groups try to pressure politicians by mobilizing public opinion One way to do this is to "go public"—the act of launching a media campaign to build popular support This includes advertising campaigns, protests, grassroots lobbying efforts, and building lists of supporters and urging them to pressure officials Discussion: One classic example of a particularly successful grassroots lobbying campaign is the famous "Harry and Louise" ads that helped block President Clinton's health care reform effort in the mid-1990s. The actual ads can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt31nhleeCg. Interest groups also seek to influence public opinion by showing up on free media on radio, television, and the Internet to advocate for their cause. Stephen Colbert had an ongoing series called "Better Know a Lobby"; in one humorous example, he interviewed Carl Pope, the head of the Sierra Club: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ytt7lh/the-colbert-report-better-know-a-lobby---sierra-club.

Public Opinion and Political Knowledge: Stability

Knowledge and instability: low levels of information lead to instability and incoherence in responses to surveys Others argue there is great stability in public opinion MORE: This discussion is a good example of the rationality principle in action. Political scientists may not like it, but some citizens may come to the rational conclusion that having lots of political information does them no good. While having a lot of information may not necessarily help, low levels of information can be harmful. The political scientist Larry Bartels points out that millions of Americans unlikely to benefit from George W. Bush's tax proposals supported his tax cuts regardless because they mistakenly thought that they would. Bartels calls this phenomenon "misplaced self-interest." Some, as far back as the Marquis de Condorcet, have argued that all this is not necessarily a problem for democratic politics, as aggregation of opinion at a mass level counteracts the effects of political ignorance. In the 2016 election, political knowledge and education played a significant role, as Donald Trump performed significantly better than Mitt Romney had among voters with less than a college degree while Hillary Clinton performed far better than Barack Obama had in 2012 among voters with a college degree or more. Nate Silver, editor of FiveThirtyEight.com, showed that Clinton's vote surged in the most highly educated counties in America while Trump's vote surged in the least-educated counties: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/.

Interest Group Influence: Direct Lobbying 1

Lobbying is an attempt by a group to influence the policy process through persuasion of government officials Billions of dollars are spent on lobbying each year Lobbying is thought of negatively, but lobbyists do make positive contributions: Provide information Make sure group concerns are heard

Interest Group Influence: Direct Lobbying 2

Lobbyists also seek to influence other parts of government by Lobbying the president Lobbying the executive branch There are some regulations on lobbying: Groups must report spending on lobbying There are strict limits on gifts from lobbyists Lobbyists must register with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives Discussion: Students (and the public) generally have a negative view of interest groups and see them as being corrupt. On the first day of the new Congress in 2017, Republicans found themselves in political hot water after they tried to weaken the House Ethics investigation process.

Media Effects

Media Effects: Agenda Setting, Priming, and Framing

Exceptions to One Person, One Vote

Members of the U.S. Senate represent states, with each state given the same number (two) of senators This violation of the one-person, one-vote standard is authorized by Article V of the Constitution The Electoral College is also an exception Discussion: Fewer and fewer students today remember the drawn-out fight over the Florida recount, and even fewer remember that Al Gore received more popular votes than George W. Bush in the 2000 election. But the 2016 election has provided students with an even more extreme example of how the Electoral College violates democratic norms. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and by 2 percent—about six times larger than the margin by which Gore defeated Bush in the popular vote in 2000. Nevertheless, it is still worth explaining the Electoral College through the lens of the 2000 election, in part because some of the ballot form issues (like the Palm Beach ballot) arguably cost Gore the election.

The 2016 Election

More than 136 million Americans voted for president, members of Congress, governors, and numerous other officials Donald Trump was elected president, and Republicans held onto majority control of both the U.S. Senate and the House, although Democrats made minor gains in each chamber

Criteria for Victory: What It Takes to Win

Most American elections require a plurality of votes to win Plurality rule—a type of electoral system in which victory goes to the individual who gets the most votes in an election but not necessarily a majority of the votes cast The main alternative to plurality rule is proportional representation, but this is not consistent with single-member districts Discussion: Plurality rule is one of the key reasons for the two-party system in the United States. It is worth pointing this out to students and asking them to think through the question of why plurality rule pushes the party system toward two—and only two—major parties.

Campaign Organizations

Most campaign organizations are temporary, created by a candidate to run for a particular office, and they disband shortly after Election Day Parties have a number of permanent political organizations, and so do powerful interest groups

Parties as Institutions

National convention: nominates presidential candidate, sets party platform National committee: raises money, enhances party's image or brand name Congressional campaign committees: recruit candidates, raise money, provide services State and local organizations: register voters, recruit candidates, raise money Discussion: Party organizations in the United States are generally "bottom-up" organizations in the sense that the national convention and the national committees are made up of delegates and activists from the state level. Also, the national parties are organized to match with elective offices and electoral districts around the country.

Range of Social, Cultural, and Political Identities

Nationality Partisan identification Race/ethnicity Gender Religion Geography Outgroups

Functions of Parties: Nominating Candidates

Nomination is the process by which parties select their candidates to run for office There are generally two ways to do this: Convention: a meeting of party leaders to choose nominees Primary: registered party members choose the nominee in an election Conventions tend to choose insiders, while primaries allow for more outsiders Discussion: The shift, in the early 1970s, from party conventions to primaries for the selection of presidential nominees has led to an era of more ambitious and more media-savvy presidents who are also more independent of party leaders and congressional leaders. In this sense, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are arguably the prototypes of the primary-nominated president. Obama was not chosen as the Democratic Party's nominee in 2008 because insiders in the party wanted him over Hillary Clinton. He was chosen because he got more votes in key caucuses and primaries, and that meant appealing to and organizing voters and activists at the grassroots level. For President Obama, this path to the nomination was both a strength and a weakness. He was a remarkably adept retail campaigner who was able to move the public to his side with soaring oratory. But he was also not as connected to key leaders on Capitol Hill as presidents from the era of party conventions. Donald Trump may experience a similar kind of tension. His relationship with congressional Republicans during the 2016 campaign was complicated to say the least. How that will translate into governance in concert with Republican leaders will be one of the key questions of the Trump presidency.

Parties in the Electorate

Parties are made up of millions of rank-and-file members who "identify" with the party label Once voters form an attachment to one party or the other, it tends to be persistent Party activist—a partisan who contributes time and energy beyond voting to support a party and its candidates

What Are Parties?

Parties are organized groups that attempt to influence government by electing their members to office The constitutional system of federalism, separation of powers, and bicameralism makes it difficult for one party to gain complete control of the government Still, parties are critical in making elections and government work Discussion: Richard Hofstadter famously described ours as a "Constitution Against Parties" because various aspects of the institutional framework laid out by the framers of the Constitution were meant to frustrate the formation of the "interested and overbearing majority" James Madison worried about in Federalist 10. Ironically, as we know, Madison became one of the key organizers of just such a majority party, and Hofstadter concluded that parties were needed to bridge the gaps created by institutional mechanisms such as the separation of powers. In effect, parties were needed to save the "Constitution Against Parties."

Functions of Parties: Influencing Government

Parties build coalitions among aligned interests that develop policy platforms Democrats are the liberal party, pushing for government intervention in the economy, less social regulation, and expansion of civil rights Republicans are the conservative party, pushing for laissez-faire economics and greater social regulation Parties organize government Discussion: One way to get students to think about parties as organizing coalitions in government is to use an actual case study. Have students watch the Frontline special on President Obama's efforts to get health care reform passed ("Obama's Deal"), and ask them how the party organizations in Congress helped or hurt the process. The documentary can be viewed online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/obamasdeal/.

Parties in Government

Parties have a profound influence on the organization and day-to-day operations of Congress Majority chooses the Speaker of the House Parties organize the committee system The president is the leader of his or her party in government and works closely with congressional party leaders

Parties and Democracy

Parties help make democracy work They allow for BOTH Popular participation Collective action They provide Voting cues Organization in government Logistical support for campaigns

Parties as Candidate Service Providers

Parties provide services to candidate organizations: Money Voter lists and engage in GOTV Campaign advice Coordinate expenditures Parties supplement and support candidate campaigns

Functions of Parties: Getting Out the Vote (GOTV)

Parties: Work to register voters Persuade eligible voters to vote Parties used to perform these functions by themselves, but today, candidate organizations and outside organizations have significant GOTV operations

How Voters Decide: How to Vote

Partisan loyalty is the single strongest predictor of a person's vote There is a psychological attachment There is an ideological attachment There is an attachment to past experience with a party The vast majority of voters consistently vote for one party or the other

Group Membership Has an Upper-Class Bias

People with higher incomes and higher levels of education are more likely to be members of interest groups There is thus an upper-class bias in the interest-group system The bottom rungs of the socioeconomic ladder are represented by some groups, but political parties do a better job of representing these interests

Group Activity Reflects the Political Environment

Periods of significant change or social and economic upheaval usually signal a burst of group activity Group activity grew during the 1880s and 1890s as government became more active in seeking to regulate interstate commerce The federal government's growth in the 1930s led to another burst of group activity There are thousands of groups at the national, state, and local level Discussion: More recently, interest group activity grew with the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and in the last decade with the rise of the anti-tax Tea Party movement and Black Lives Matter protesting racial discrimination.

Interest Group Influence: Using Electoral Politics

Political action committees PACs are private groups that raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns PACs give to candidates and to parties In 2014, PACs contributed over $470 million Independent expenditures Groups spend money on voter education As long as it is not coordinated with a campaign, spending in this category may be unlimited

identity politics

Political identities are distinctive characteristics or group associations that individuals carry and that hold for those individuals' social connections or common values and interests with others in that group Identities are both psychological and sociological Unlike ideologies, identities are absolutes

preferences

Preferences are shaped by economic self-interest and social or moral values; some preferences may be held more firmly than others

Racial Gerrymandering

Redistricting can also be done to the advantage or disadvantage of groups as well as parties By breaking up communities of racial minorities, those drawing the maps can dilute their power and make it more difficult to elect minority legislators This kind of gerrymandering is unconstitutional Discussion: While racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional, it can be difficult to distinguish from partisan gerrymandering.

Religion, Geography, and Public Opinion

Religion shapes peoples' values and beliefs and also serves as a strong identity Where we live also molds our sense of identity—regional accents, state pride, and history all play a role MORE: Again, the history principle plays a role in understanding how geography shapes our political identities. The lasting impact of the history of the Civil War and, even before that, what Alexis de Tocqueville viewed as America's two separate foundings shape how southerners have a distinctive political identity from those living in the northeast.

Government and the Will of the People (representative democracy)

Representative democracy requires that the preferences of the people be translated into action But identifying and measuring those preferences is not simple or easy And the diversity and size of the republic means a lack of consensus is common

The Third Party System: 1860-96

Republicans Lincoln, Grant Strong in the North and in cities Support national power, commercial interests Democrats Cleveland Strong in the South and the Midwest Opposed tariffs, supported rural interests Party machines as a strategic innovation Discussion: A good example of a party machine students may be familiar with is one led by "Nucky" Thompson in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the era of Prohibition. (This was, of course, during the fourth party system, but it is a good example of a party machine.) A fictionalized version of Thompson's exploits are depicted in the recent HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

The Fourth Party System: 1896-1932

Republicans McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover Strong in the Northeast and the far West National power and business interests Democrats Wilson Strong in the South and the Midwest A rural, minority party

Measuring Public Opinion: Selection Bias

Selection bias is a polling error in which the sample is not representative of the population being studied Finding a representative sample is not easy, and we have to avoid selection bias

Collective Action: Selective Benefits as a Solution

Selective benefits are those that go only to those who contribute to the group Benefits can be Informational Material Solidary Purposive This is an example of the institution principle in action Discussion: Group leaders create selective benefits and institutions to give these benefits only to members to overcome the difficulties of collective action.

Political Entrepreneurs and Groups

Selective benefits will not organize a group if there is no leadership to do the work We call these leaders "political entrepreneurs," and they accrue benefits in return for doing the work of organizing These entrepreneurs are a complement to selective benefits in overcoming collective action problems

Foundations of Preferences SVS

Self-interest: government policies directly affect our financial well-being, the quality of public services, and public safety Values: our philosophies about morality and justice affect our opinions and may even contradict our economic interests Social groups: our family, neighborhood, language, race, and religion also have an impact on our preferences

Single-Member Districts

Single-member districts tend to exaggerate the victory of the majority In 2010, Republicans won 53.5 percent of the national two-party vote but 55.6 percent of the seats In 2012, Barack Obama won 51 percent of the national vote but 62 percent of the Electoral College This also shrinks the power of smaller groups Single-member districts also weaken third parties Discussion: In 2012, Republican candidates for the House actually received fewer votes nationally than Democratic candidates, but Republicans won a majority in the House fairly handily. Some have argued this is because of gerrymandering, although there is at least some reason to dispute that claim. Among others, Philip Bump makes that argument in The Atlantic: http://news.yahoo.com/no-gerrymandering-not-destroying-democracy-183700269.html. A more recent argument along these lines was made by David Wasserman, writing for the FiveThirtyEight blog. Among other things, he points out that voters have sorted into very deep red and deep blue districts, and this creates various problems for the political system. See http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-political-process-isnt-rigged-it-has-much-bigger-problems/. Single-member districts strengthen the two major parties by providing no seats to parties that might receive many votes nationwide but not enough to win a plurality in any single district. In 1992, Ross Perot received 19 percent of the vote nationwide, but he received no votes in the Electoral College. Smaller factions have an incentive to find a home in one of the two major parties rather than form their own party, and the two major parties have an incentive to accommodate smaller groups to build their ranks.

Agents of Socialization: Education

Some values (liberty, equality, and democracy for instance) are impressed on students continuously throughout their education But higher levels of educational attainment are associated with changes in political beliefs

Voter Registration Is a Key Obstacle to Voting

Some voters do not vote on Election Day because they are not registered to vote There are many reasons voters may not be registered to vote, but one common reason is that they have recently moved One reason voter registration rates are lower among young people is because they move more often and are less likely to be registered where they currently live

liberals

Support political and social reform Extensive government intervention in the economy Expansion of federal social services More vigorous efforts on behalf of the poor, minorities, and women Greater concern for consumers and the environment

Conservatives

Support the social and economic status quo Suspicious of efforts to introduce new political formulas and economic arrangements Believe that a large and powerful government poses a threat to citizens' freedoms

The Sixth Party System: 1968-Present

The 1960s split the New Deal Coalition Southern whites left the party over civil rights Catholics and religious conservatives moved to the right Both parties became more ideologically homogeneous and more evenly matched in national elections

choices

The choices presented to us do not always yield a clear measure of our preferences or beliefs. The role of choices is quite important but is frequently ignored in public opinion.

Agents of Socialization: Political Conditions

The conditions under which individuals and groups come of political age also shape political orientation Similarly, the views of individuals and groups change as the political conditions change

Who Votes?: Electoral Composition

The electorate has expanded throughout American history The Fifteenth Amendment allowed blacks to vote, but local laws restricted voting until the 1960s In most states, women could not vote until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Eighteen-year-olds could not vote until the Twenty-Sixth Amendment was ratified in 1971 Voting is a right; it is not compulsory In June 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Voting Rights Act requiring some jurisdictions to seek "pre-clearance" for new voting restrictions The change effectively gives many jurisdictions the power to impose new voting restrictions MORE: The Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013 struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act that required pre-clearance of voting rights restrictions in certain states. This video from the New York Times provides good background on the history of Section 4 of the Act: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000002300972/a-history-of-voting-rights.html. One of the key questions in the debate has to do with whether voters need to present identification in order to vote. It is useful to engage students in a discussion of whether identification should be required in order to vote.

Are Interest Groups Effective?

The evidence is surprisingly mixed Some research has found that advocacy rarely yields returns Other research has found that the small amount of money corporations spend on advocacy is a sign that it is not worth much to them However, if advocacy did not work, groups would not spend money on it at all Discussion: At the end of this chapter on groups and interests, the authors employ an interesting thought experiment in asking whether groups are effective. They ask why, if spending on politics is so lucrative for corporations, they don't spend more? Relative to other investments (like hiring employees, purchasing equipment, etc.), corporations spend very little on politics. One reason may be that groups are seeking to free ride on the investments of others. Regardless of the reason, it is useful to ask students why groups spend less on politics than on some of these other investments and, more broadly, whether they think interest groups are as effective as they could be in the American political system.

Analyzing the Evidence: Interest Group Influence 2

The graph shows the average amounts spent on lobbying or campaign contributions by interest groups. Citizen groups on average spent much less on lobbying and campaign contributions than other types of groups. Unions on average spent more on campaign contributions than any other type of group, but that spending is tempered by the fact that there are fewer unions. (Note: Lobbying figures represent total reported spending in 2012; PAC campaign contributions are for the two-year election period ending with the 2012 election.)

Race and Public Opinion

The history of slavery and racial discrimination has created a deep, lasting divide between whites on the one hand and blacks and Latinos on the other There are stark differences in beliefs and preferences among Latinos, blacks, and whites regarding the basic responsibilities of government MORE: This is an opportunity to point out how the history principle works in practice. The differences we observe in public opinion among blacks, Latinos, and whites are largely a function of historical patterns of discrimination that have a lasting effect on the preferences and beliefs of people from different racial and ethnic groups.

Congressional Campaigns

The incumbent advantage is significant in congressional campaigns This is because of Greater name recognition Fund-raising advantages Casework and voting record Discussion: It is worth pointing out to students that, even in years that are tough for incumbents such as 2010, more than 90 percent of House members who seek reelection get reelected.

Elections and Accountability

The last several elections demonstrate the link between elections and accountability Voters angry with Bush and concerned about the economy punished Republicans in 2008 and rewarded Obama for progress in 2012 Lack of economic progress in the Rust Belt led some of these voters to shift to Trump in 2016 It is clear that voters are using elections to hold elected officials accountable Discussion: It is useful to ask students to discuss the link between elections and accountability, either in groups or as a writing assignment to. Ask students to take into account all that has been covered in the chapter on elections—including election laws, campaign finance, and the effect of incumbency—and ask them whether they think the system of campaigns and elections that we have is one that fosters accountability of public officials.

Shaping Opinion: Media

The mass media are the conduits through which most politically relevant information flows to the public Traditional media sources—newspapers, radio, and television—are supplemented today by the Internet and social media We learn from the media actively (seeking out news) and passively (absorbing news through entertainment)

Measuring Public Opinion: Sample Size

The reliability of a poll is also partly a function of sample size The larger the sample size, the less likely the result will be due to sampling error—a polling error that arises on account of small sample size But larger samples are more expensive

How Americans Vote: Ballot Access and Form

The rise of the secret ballot and the Australian ballot came about in the late nineteenth century Australian ballot—an electoral format that presents the names of all the candidates for any given office on the same ballot Discussion: The rise of the Australian ballot obviously made it easier for voters to split their ticket, but it also had the effect of helping incumbents. With the party ballot, voters were effectively forced to choose all the candidates from one party or the other, so if you wanted to change the party in control of the White House, you would have to vote for members of Congress from the same party. That was no longer the case with the Australian ballot.

Analyzing the Evidence: Economic Influence on Election Polls 1

The state of the economy is a key factor in presidential elections. When the United States prospers, the presidential party performs much better than when economic conditions are poor. The economic influence on presidential elections can be seen by predicting the vote based on objective indicators such as GDP growth leading up to the election. The simplest measure, however, is a subjective one—voters' responses when asked in polls whether the economy has been performing well or badly. When survey respondents are asked early in the election year how they plan to vote, candidate and party preferences show little relationship to economic perceptions at that time. By election day, however, the national vote falls surprisingly in line with the voters' perceptions of economic performance. In short, the election campaign increases the importance of the economy to voters. The precise indicator of economic perceptions used here is the average response to the following question, asked regularly by the Survey of Consumers at the University of Michigan in April and November of the election year: "Would you say that at the current time business conditions are better or worse than they were a year ago?" The lack of any consistent pattern in the first graph (at left) shows that what voters think about the economy in April of an election year has little bearing on their vote intentions at that time—as if voters had not yet thought about the November election sufficiently to factor in the economy. Especially noteworthy examples are 1980 and 1992 when incumbents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, respectively, were favored in the early polls, despite being seen as presiding over poor economies. Both lost the general election. John McCain (representing the incumbent Republican Party) was only slightly behind Barack Obama in early 2008, despite an economy that already was almost universally seen as worsening. The clear pattern in the second graph (shown here) shows that by November, the vote fell into rough alignment with economic perceptions: The better the average perception of business conditions, the greater the support for the incumbent party. The three weakest economies in terms of perceptions (1980, 1992, 2008) all saw the incumbent party lose.

Parties and Democracy 2 the three spheres of parties

The three "spheres" are parties In the electorate As institutions In government In what ways are parties stronger or weaker in these various spheres than they were 100 years ago? Discussion: A good group exercise or writing assignment would be to ask students to look at the ways in which parties are stronger or weaker than they used to be in each of these three spheres

The Pull and Push of Groups and Interests

There is a "pull" and a "push" organizing political activity in the United States There is a pull from government to gather information on how governmental decisions will affect various constituencies There is a push from individuals and groups seeking to gain some benefit This is pluralism at work

Political Parties in 2016: Unity and Division

There is a growing ideological split between the parties, but the parties are not ideologically uniform in themselves The split within the Democratic Party broke into the open in the long primary fight between Sanders and Clinton The split within the Republican Party was arguably even greater

Third Parties

Third parties emerge and disappear just as quickly throughout these party systems Various barriers: No ideological room for third parties Legal advantages for the two major parties Existing party identification

How Does Public Opinion Influence Government Policy?

Three important ways: Electoral accountability Building coalitions: public bills are more likely to pass if they have public support Input in rule making and legal decisions

Why Parties? Dealing with the Problem of Ambition

Unchecked ambition is a problem for the political system Parties channel ambition through a system of career advancement Parties allow for the internal resolution of conflict through primaries Because party members share a "brand name," conflict is effectively contained

why is voter turnout low in the U.S.?

Voter turnout is much higher in Australia, in part because of compulsory voting laws—citizens can be fined for not voting. Voter turnout is lower in the United States for a variety of reasons, including onerous registration laws, difficult balloting procedures, and new voter ID laws in some states. Voter turnout declined markedly between 1890 and 1910, as these were the years when states began to require that voters be registered in order to vote.

How Voters Decide: Issues

Voters also consider specific issues Looking forward and back Prospective: based on future performance Retrospective: based on past performance Means and ends Spatial issues: voters care about how something is done Valence issues: voters want a particular outcome

How Voters Decide: Candidates' Characteristics 2

Voters also value particular characteristics such as "honesty" and "vigor" Incumbency can be thought of as another characteristic, and this is an advantage most of the time 2016 is an interesting case study because the two major party nominees were both very unpopular Discussion: In the 2016 election, much was made of the personal characteristics of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The first presidential debate, in particular, seemed to almost entirely ignore a discussion of the issues and focus on candidate characteristics. SNL caricatured the two candidates and the debate in humorous fashion: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/donald-trump-vs-hillary-clinton-debate-cold-open/3108903?snl=1.

Functions of Parties: Facilitating Electoral Choice

Voters usually do not know much about the candidates for various offices, and they know less about "down-ballot" candidates Parties provide a "brand name" that can help voters who know nothing about a candidate make a semi-informed choice Discussion: At one time or another, voters have believed that the two parties are too similar, probably as a result of the median voter theorem, the effort of candidates from the two parties to move toward the ideological middle. But today, for the most part, voters see the two major parties as distinct from each other, and most voters see clear ideological differences between the two parties. The "brand" the parties maintain for candidates can work both ways. Candidates hope that the party label is an asset, but in 2012, the Republican Party had two Senate candidates who made controversial comments about abortion rights and rape that ultimately harmed the party label for many Republicans.

How Voters Decide: Voters and Nonvoters

Voting is strongly correlated with demographics, electoral choices, and context Older people vote Highly educated people vote People who have not moved recently vote People vote when they are interested in the issues Weakening registration requirements would increase voting Discussion: The 2016 election is an interesting case study in voter turnout because the two major party candidates were the two most unpopular major party nominees since polling has measured favorability ratings, and yet voter turnout was higher than in the previous election. Voters also vote less in down-ballot races because they tend to have less information or know the candidates and their positions less well.

Analyzing the Evidence: Interest Group Influence 1

Which interest groups have the most influence over political outcomes? It is generally accepted among those who study interest groups that business and economic interests predominate. Economic interests are more likely to form organized groups, are more likely to be active, and on average spend more money and more time on political issues than are noneconomic interests like citizen groups or "public interest" groups. When we look at interest groups' involvement in the policy-making process, however, the sheer number of groups or dollars may not directly equal the amount of influence that those groups have. While numbers and dollars are important indicators of which interests are represented, it would be preferable to try to measure which groups actually were influential in politics. To address this question, the political scientist Frank Baumgartner and his colleagues interviewed 315 lobbyists and government officials about 98 randomly selected policy issues. Citizen groups were more likely to be mentioned as being important in the debates than any other type of group, despite the fact that they spent less and they made up a smaller part of the overall group population. Why were citizen groups seen as so influential despite their relative lack of resources? It may be that those groups have important ties to constituents, granting them greater legitimacy in the eyes of members of Congress, or it could be that some members of Congress already supported the policies that the citizen groups were advocating. Whatever the reason, it is clear that citizen groups have greater voice in Washington than the dollar counts might suggest. These data from the National Survey of Governmental Relations and Lobbyists. Info show the dominance of business organizations in Washington. Businesses make up 31 percent of those with dedicated national lobbying offices. Trade associations, which represent groups of businesses, make up another 23 percent. Citizen groups, professional associations, and unions together have less than half of all lobbying offices, and it is especially striking to note that unions are only 2 percent of the total.

Party Systems: Two Parties

Why two parties? Winner-takes-all elections No ideological room for more than two Legal barriers to third parties Realignments punctuate the movements between party systems

Problems of Organization: The Prisoner's Dilemma

You and a friend have committed a crime The police have arrested both of you and have placed you in separate rooms The police think they have enough evidence to convict you both of a lesser crime But they want you to snitch on your friend Of course, they have offered your friend the same deal

A decision to lead a broadcast with a story about a high-profile murder case rather than the president's trip to the Middle East is an example of a media effect called agenda setting. priming. framing.

agenda setting

Closed primary

an election in which only those voters who registered with the party a specified period before Election Day can participate Closed primaries are preferable from the standpoint of party organizers

Open primary

an election in which voters can choose on Election Day itself which party's primary to vote in

All of the following are the "spheres" in which parties operate EXCEPT for parties in government. as cities. as institutions. in the electorate.

as cities

Types of Primaries

closed primary and open primary

We can expect that public opinion will vary significantly over time on each of the following EXCEPT the president. environmental regulation. equality of opportunity. trust in government.

equality of opportunity

Pluralism

is a condition or system in which many groups, interests, or ideas co-exist in a nation and share political power As long as all groups are free to organize, the system is arguably democratic, as individuals will join groups they support and will not join groups they oppose Bigger groups will have power, as they should But some groups organize more easily Discussion: It is important to note the critiques of pluralism (for example, it over-represents the wealthy and the well-educated). The next few slides outline the characteristics of groups and make the point that some interests organize more easily than others do. But it is useful to ask students to think through the logic of pluralism on their own first by asking them to what extent they think pluralism can be characterized as democratic. Do all individuals have an equal opportunity to influence the pluralist system?

Shaping Opinion: Private Groups

often pay to get their own opinions across, contributes money to political campaigns. Following the rationality principle, groups and individuals seek to influence latent, unorganized individuals to support their cause Groups and individuals with more money, institutional support, and skill will have more success MORE: In 2011, Stephen Colbert formed his own Super PAC, but knowing that he did not necessarily have the skill to market his ideas to the public, he sat down with Frank Luntz, a Republican political consultant, for advice. Luntz helped Colbert come up with ways to market his ideas. The video of the interview can be found here: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/m00z1i/the-colbert-report-colbert-super-pac---frank-luntz-commits-to-the-pac

Which of the following is NOT an important problem in measuring public opinion? poorly worded questions small sample size the Bradley effect sampling bias

the Bradley effect

framing

the power of the media to influence how events and issues are interpreted

Agenda setting

the power to bring attention to particular issues and problems

priming

the process of preparing the public to take a particular view of an event or a political actor

Which of the following is NOT a reason political parties form? to deal with the problem of ambition to check presidential power to facilitate collective choice in government to facilitate elections

to check presidential power