Combo with "2nd half of Intro to American Politics Key terms and concepts" and 1 other

the influence of third parties

The role of third parties: difficult to assess but at times they provide issues that the other two major parties later adopt

political party

a group that seeks to elect candidates to public office, label, organization, and set of leaders weaker because:low voter turnout, laws and rules under which they operate have taken away much of their power at the same time voters have lost their sense of committment to party id, influence of primaries,

partisan lens

the screen through which one views the world Ex) democrats and republicans view econ conditions differently, connects to Michigan school

Sources of information, ideas, and beliefs

Media personal circumstances-if everything is going well in life, a person overly attributes to gov opinion when life is good others personal circumstances social interactions-homophily political socialization- influenced by upbringing, genetics, early exposure to politics

Zallers model

Model on how info is processed:people's ability to respond to current enviroment will be a function of previous beliefs and new info receive-more politically aware people wil have stronger previous beliefs and be more likely to receiven ew info People tend to resist new info that is inconsistent with their previous belliefs if they recognize that it is inconsistent NEw info will be more salient in someone's mind than old ino individuals respond to survey questions by averaging across salient considerations on most issues people feel at least somewhat conflicted TAKEWAWAY:people answer on the top of their heads and individuals do not like to show ignorance

split ticket

voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election, has increased

straight ticket

voting for candidates of the same party, very popular in the 19th Century

two step flow of communication

when you hear political news from someone without getting it from a direct source

the state of legislation

whether policy problem is just being introduced to gov or whether well-defined alternatives are being introduced by legistlators- influences ay public opinion constrains IG stategies mostly by varying the benefits group attain in signaling current salience of an issue v. in trying to increase salience of issue/popularity of specific policies

Traditional political science views of party

(According to Aldrich): defined by their organization- understand hierachy,party essence, provides structure institutional government to help aspiring office holers get (re)elected- Mayhew way, design to maximize (re)election, but it is not the parties only purpose Institutional arrangements to help benefit seeks obtain their goals *None of which suffieciently recognize the importance of the party of the electorate in American politics

Implications of Media Bias

(According to Baum and Abrajano): many people tend to get news froms soft news especially for those who are politically uninterstred and provides people with enough info to be able to have a discussion at water cooler political ads tailored to audienceEx)hispanics

Independent's voting records

(According to Campbell: people may say that they are independent but they are actually either democratic or republican. Better to look at their voting records as oppossed to self-desciptions the number of independents has not increased but instead those who they are has increased but really"partisans in disguised" *party identifers predict who will vote for*

how interest group's represent the poor

(According to Gilens): unions(oppose free-trade policies, cuts in capitol gains/corporate income taxes/corporate income taxes, supporting increase in minimum wage and right to strike for firefighters, police officers, and college teachers) best represent poor's interest, at times interest groups represent their interests by coincidence, other times its for ideological reasons,unions strong on issues other interest groups typically are on opposite side, but groups that support less well-off Americans are decreasing in size and strength Takeaway: IG neither facilitare nor undermine publi's influence

outside lobbying

(According to Kollman): IG leaders bring people from outside Washington into so can persuade Congress members and provide legislators with public opinion, shape public opinion for the IG's benefit, attempt to moblize citizes outside policymaking community to contact and pressure public officials inside policymaking community, aids inside lobbying, makes political elite be pressured by popular participation, make issues salient more than inside lobbying mobilize citizens outside the policymaking community to pressure or persudade policymakers Ex) Rosty campaign from Gucci Gulch for tax reform also google and wikipedia mobilize users during net neutrality issue

inside lobbying

(According to Kollman):private and played among Washington interest leaders and officials, using personal contacts with policymakers to pressure or persuade, provide info

citizens have enough info to making meaningful electoral choices

(According to Lupia and McCubbins):ague about whether citizens have enough info: note that people aren't particularly poltically informed but that doesn't prevent them from making reasoned choices Rather, we frequently delegate political choices to people that we find both knowledgeable and trustworthy but can lead to decetpion can rely on political institutions can rely on cues that are predictive of what our reasoned choice would be if we were fully informed but there are limits to cues-party label does not always give you the necessary context, cues can dominate other factors, have to spend time seeking out cue

edogeniety bias

A concept by Croseclose: the idea that it is hard to detect which factor is causing the other- "is it the media causing political beliefs or the political beliefs causing the media

primary elections

A part of the election process that is unique to US, used to determine who will represent party in general election, first adopted in the eraly 20th Century as part of the progressive movement, connects to the party of the electorate and reduce the party/machine to control nomineess, making party in the government act like party in the electorate various types:closed, semi-closed, semi-open, open, non-partisan primaries,direct, indirect primary

poltical parties

A political instittution that can be thought of as an interest group(Ex) pro life groups in the 1980s changed their support from Dems to Rep and Republicans changed their positions as well), no very strong due to politics becoming more centered on candidates but are needed to solve collective action problems

ideological third parties

A type of third party that has endured:members feel outside the mainstream of Ameircan political life. Usually not intrested in immediate electoral success

economic protest third parties

A type of third party: has been electorally successful, and typically due with an economic issue Ex) Populists

factional parties

A type of third party: splinters off from the two main parties due to an issue, at times hope to beat party splintered off from, have greatest impact on public policy Ex) Bull Moose Progressive

"Towards a more Responsible Two-Party System"

An article that highlights problems with the party system int he 1960s): National and state organizations are largely separate No centralized leadership Ambiguity of membership- not clear what it means to be part of the party Party is not democratic Party positions are not clearly stated- which makes it harder to make compromise Called for instiutional reforms which some have come into place,

Realignment(1968-Present)

An era in political parties where the Democrats and Republicans switched ideology

New Deal

An era in political parties, FDR's ability to make policies that benefited many Americans influenced many to join the Democratic party, era of Realignmnet

Election of 1928

An time period in parties where the system breaks down and the Republicans dominate, patronage had decreased due to the Pendelton Act and the Hatch ACt and we start to see the development of candidate centered politics

factors determining the amount of news consumption

Elements that influence the amount of news one consumers: older people tend to consume more news, more educated people tend to consume more news, news is greater consumed through the internet while newspapers have decreased

Era of Reform

Era of political parties, a time in which the progressives called for primary elections to replace nomianting conventions in order to reduce the machine's power, non partisan elections, reduce voting fraud, civil service reform to reduce patronage, result- made political parties weaker

Party Realignments

Era of political parties: a period when major, lasting shifts occur in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties two types: two parties change issues or voters change loyalty(new issue of utmost importance to the voters cut across exisiting party divisons and replaces old issues that formerly were the basis of party identification, new party emerges

The Civil War and Sectionalism(Republican uprising)

Era of political parties: new parties emerged such as the Republican and dominated national politics

The Founding

Era of political parties:Republicans v. Federalists, loose caucuses of political notables in various places

The Jacksonians

Era of political parties:political participation became a mass phenomenon, high voter turnout(but take into consideration that voters turned out due to patronage, felt being watched, part of job, cacuses made up of Congressmembers who nomiated president which was later replaced by party convention, party ballots, instutional changes such as popular election

Development of cable and internet

Final phase of the media: in this phase there is a greater variety of channels and programs BUT there are implications: political coverage has decreased, race to the bottom(to succeed must appeal to the masses),lead to polarization(msnbc for lib and fox for conservatives)

Party in the electorate

Group with shared attachments and identities that seeks to elect candidates to public office by suppling them with a label, partianship, among the people

Nationl Convention Delegate selection

How____ are selected for nationa conventions: Dems:created an elaborate set of rules designed to weaken the control over delegates by local party leaders and increase proportion of women, youth, and African Americans, Native Americans who attending convetion

role of parties

Influence of parties: link voters to government: linkage institution, due to Federalism and candidate centered politics harder for government to be accountable, must just party performance by assessing the president's party More durable than candidates

Surveys

Issues with a measurement on how to assess public opinion:can change depending on things Ex) Fiorina's changing approval and also shows elite drive public opinoin Ex)Affordable Care Act- sampling error, approval changed when the issue became more salient and people see how it could affect them depends on the incentives an individual receives if get the correct answer,mask answers

Development of the popular press

Phase of media: Rise of private publications and large media groups like Hearst and Pulitizer, however brings up the concern of publications publishing for profit as opposed to content, development of the Assciated press,

Development of Electronic Media

Phase of media: phase in which there was the advent of the radio(19420) and the advent of the television(1940s) tv- has changed poliitically. Originally there were limited channels so there was a lack of competition. People watched more news but now there are more channels so they compete for viewership and people rather watch more entertaining shows than the news

Early republic

Phase of the media: When the party controls the press, different parties had different papers like Jefferson v. Hamilton, media also paid for by interest groups, the target audience was the political elite

Why democrats and republicans become two dominant powers

Reason for Dem and Rep: they happened to be the parties that won thus hard to overcome incumbency advantage, adopted popular positions of potential thrid party candidates,

Rise of interest groups

Reason for growth of ____ broad economic developements create new interests and redefine old ones thus ____ form around these issues,government policy produces____, organizationl entrepreneurs are insipred by social movements,the increase of government

MIchigan School

The early view of theory on processing info:the goal was to understand confusing data, survey between twice, once and two years later, results two years later were different and did not expect this. only one stable question and refered to partisan id

Election of 1932

The election of FDR and during the Great Depression which changes the politcal system. Parties are class based at the time and Democrats are less educated than Republicans, development of policy feedback- FDR creates policies that benefit many people lives and draw people to the democratic party, a lot of people are socialized which affects party id

role of the media

The influence of the media: serves as the watch dog therefore it is more regulate than other industries, there is the concern that the type of media necessary for democracy to flourish is not the type of media that will be produced in the competitive marketplace- primary motivation is monetary Evidence that the media choose to present, and hot it presents can affect politcal behavior endoresements are limited, newspapers cater to niche

Non-Attitudes

Theory on how people process info according to Zaller: new theory, survey responses are function of two factors- belief concerning an object and evaluation of that belief pertains to a model OH explanations: how we process info, what does that tell us about public opinion, top of the head, this works for everybody everywhere, not just for republicans and democrats, what does it mean when people give reponse to survery, reponse: average most recent issue in head on most issues people are conflicted

The Columbia School

Theory on how people process info:people take opinions of people like them, connects to homophily, therefore opinion leaders play a big role

how much info is needed

Two Schools of thought: 1)more than they have: peopole do not know basic info how can they make meaningful decisoins? 2)enough to make meaningful electoral choices(prof's preference):rational voters can rely on others to gigure out what to think like party labels, endorsements, social ties, advice, opinion leaders

shortcuts to gaining information

Ways to efficiently become informed:seek out opinion leaders, partisan identification endorsements, acquaintances *while people may be informed, people arent likely to get more informed just because they want to vote in an informed manner- predictions come from survey data

consideration

Zaller: any reason that might induce an individual to decide political issue one way or another

semi-closed primary

____primaries, voters must be registered with a political party in order to participate in the primary; however, independents may choose to vote in any party's primary

office-block ballot

a ballot listing all candidates of a given office under hte name of that office, aka Masachussets ballot

party column ballot

a ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the name of that party, aka Indiana ballot

Hatch Act

a law passed in 1939 that made it illegal for federal civil service employees to take an active part in politcal management or political campaigns by serving as political offiers, soliciting campaign funds, running for partisan office, working in a partisan campaign, endorsing partisan candidates, taking voters to the polls, counting ballots, circulating nominating petitions, or being delegates to a party conventiojn new

sponsored party

a local or state political party largely supported by another organization in the community

national convention

a meeting of party delegates held every four years, the number of delegates and their manner of selection cans significantly influence the chances of various presidential candidates delegate allocation formula shows how parties are moving in opposite ideological directions how delegates are chosen is key since delegates chosen by primary elections and grassroots caucuses now place where ratify choices made by party activists and primary voters not where delegates come to bargain over presidential candidate selection

congressional campaign committee

a party committe in Congress that provides funds to members and would be members

political machine

a party organization that recruits members by dispensing patronage, abuses were curtailed and civil service reform was enacted through pendalton act and Hatch Act, new machine formed someplaces in the form of money

ideological party

a party that values principled stands on issues above all else, opposite of the political machine

poll

a survey of public opinion

Zaller's Theory of political media

a theory about media: three important players:citizens, publishers, and the poliitcians Three important conflicts:publishers would like to produce ma more sophisticated news product than citizens would like to consume politicians do not always want citizens to be informed politicians and journalists both have an occupational interest in controlling the content of the news

semi-open primary

a voter can pick whichever primary to vote in and does not have to be consistent about it in the future

plurality system

an electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections - reason behind two-party system

two-party system

an electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections Reasons:plurality, ballots, and public opinion

political action committee(PAC)

an organization created by business firm, labor union, trade association, or ideological group that recruits members from who it obtains campaign contributions

interest group

an organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence public policy, have grown in number,can legally create political action committees(PAC), an organization of 2 or more persons that "promotes its interests by attempting to influence government rather than by nominating candidates and seeking responsibility for the management of government-works through the system, broad way of operation, afffect how those in power manage government, does not include latent groups or minor political parties and groups that primarliy operate by working to elect sympathetic candidates

Reasons for two party system

causes of two party system: Durverger's law which explains why third party candidates are discouraged to run because individuals think would waste vote, plurality, ballot access, and single member districts BUT third party candidates still influence politics- help bring awareness to issues Second face of power?

national chair

day-to-day party manager elected by national committee

national committee

delegate who run party affairs between national conventions

gender gap

difference in political views between women and men women voter at a somewhat higher rate to men, women more likely to vote democrat for a period of time, women more likely to favor activist government, universal health care, envriomental protection regulations, anti-poverty programs, and laws supporting sam sex marriage, more likely to consider social welfare issues important men more likely to favor cutting taxes at the expense of services, support military interventions,

soft money

funds to aid parties, funds obtained by political parties that are spent on party activities, such as get out to vote drives, but not on behalf of specific candidate

party in government

group of individuals(republican or democratic) with a shred interest attempting to gain office and control apparatus of government, with a reasonable belief and ability to suceed

Public opinion

how poepole think about particular things, those opinins held by private person which governments find it prudent to head, expression of underlying attitudes and beliefs about a perosn, event, or issue Different between belief and expresssed belief- due to wording of the question, who asks the questions, motivation of the person to respond, and masking beliefs(tell African Americans different answers during exit polls) distinct form public policy- might not want ____ to shape this inconsistent/unstable because people are not informed

role of online media

influence of online media:hard to say if it will become as important because their is the concern that people are not actively consuming news instead grazing for news

Media bias

media is more segregated by partisanship(dem, rep, indp) and ideology(lib,conser, moderate) than it used to be small number of balanced news sources

random sample

method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected

closed primary

only voters registered for the party which is holding the primary may vote.

citizens

part of Zaller's Theory of political media:they are the people who listen/watch/read media primarily for entertainment purposes- will consume news when it is better than their alternatice sources of entertainment like shows, movies prefer watching news than doing nothing but if have the choice they would do something else

publishers

part of Zaller's theory of political media:those who produce the media and who have political goals, a desire to produce high quality product, but ultimately it comes down to profit publications are historically biased assumption:cover what citizens want to hear and in most cheap way

politicians

part of Zallers's theory of political media: these individuals are motivated by electoral incentives as argued by Mayhew therefore: they want to use media to maximize reelection chancesEx) unlikely to cover a committe vote therefore citizens are not informed about it unless opponent informs them Cover story would be more about final passage vote, press release, or scandals(which does not maximize reelection chances)

superdelegates

party leaders and elected offials who become delegates to national covnetion without having to run in primaries or caucuses, and do not have to be pledged to a candidate

elite

people who have a disproportionate amount of some valued resource

political elites

persons with a disproportionate share of political power

exit polls

polls based on interviews conducted in election day with randomly slected voters concern: not always reliable because people mask opinions especially when African Americans ask the question voters will disproportiately say they voted for democrat

Press members political attitutes

press members tend to be more liberal and less religious than the general public thus can affect their writing. But there is the notion that media should be objective

political socialization

process by which background traits influence one's political views, how you become what your are, social influences that lead to partisan id like your family influencing you

soft news

programming that is primarily intended to entertain,but contains info about politics and international events(Oprah, TMZ). increases typical people interest in news

mugwumps or progressives

reformers of the republican party faction of the 1890s to the 1910s, composed of reformers who opposed patronage, against party machinery fearful of heavy influx of immigrants,

conflict expansion

relates to outside lobbying:influences public opinion by changing how selected constituents consider and respond to policy issues,make issues salient

salience

relative importance people attach to policy issues

signaling

role of outside lobbying:when legislators are made aware of what constitutents care about

ethnocentrism

seeing the world as us. v. them, shapes political attitudes and partisanship of different races, affect voting behavior, and how political participate, ___Americans typially reject egalitarian principles, liberals and conservatives have differ in terms of____-

homophily

tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar people

sampling error

the difference between the results of random samples taken at the same time

pivotal voting

the fact that in any given election it is very improbable that who I vot for will matter or if you vote at all ***want people to be informed but you don't want to make the effort to be informed-collection action problem

role of local news

the most important source of news- YET declining. Concern: people are less informed about events around them, less are seeking out opinion leaders, getting cues

role of newspaper

the most important source of political news- not too many large circulations, many regional circulation dailies

race to the bottom

the notion in media that in order to suceed must appeal to the masses, connects to Zaller's Theory of Political media and its desciption of publishers

personal following

the political support provided to a candidate on the basis of personal popularity and networks, due to the decrease in the political machine, sponsored parties limiations, and solidary groups unproductiveness need:lots of money, lots of friends, and an appealing personality, political name can help

solidary incentives

the social rewards(sense of pleasure, status, or companionship) tahat lead people to join political organization, the basis behind solidary groups advantage:not corrupt or inflexibl e disadvantage:not as motivated Ex)local parent teacher association chaper, local NAACP that is part of a broad umbrella organization and at the national level enact political action