Government in America: Chapter 6 Public Opinion

Conservatism

A belief that limited government ensures social order, competitive markets, and personal opportunity. A political ideology based on tradition and one that prefers gradual development instead of abrupt change.

Political Ideology

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events.

Civil Disobedience

A form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences.

Protest

A form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics.

Libertarian

A person who believes in the doctrine of free will.

Liberalism

A political ideology that prefers a strong role of government in regulating capitalism and constructing the welfare state.

Sample

A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.

Random Sampling

A subset of a statistical population in which each member of the subset has an equal probability of being chosen.

Random-digit dialing

A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey.

Political Participation

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue.

Census

An actual enumeration of the population, which the Constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years.

Political Culture

An overall set of values widely shared within a society.

Push Polls

On ostensible opinion poll in which the true objective is to sway voters using loaded or manipulative questions.

Exit Poll

Public Opinion surveys taken immediately after people have left the polling stations; used to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.

Political Efficacy

The belief that ordinary people can influence the government.

Public Opinion

The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues.

Sampling Error

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

Reapportionment

The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census.

Political Socialization

The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others.

Gender Gap

The regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates than men; in part because they are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending.

Minority Majority

The situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which the non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the U.S. population and minority groups together will represent a majority.