AP Gov- Culture, Ideology, Opinion Test

"Religious Right" and Christian Coalition/Evangelical Christianity Culture War- what is it?- Issues?- Compromise possible?-

"Religious Right"-right winged conservatives who advocate social and political conservatism, school prayer, federal aid for religious groups and schools Christian Coalition/Evangelical-US conservative political organization that supports traditional ideas about family life, is against abortion, and encourages Christian ideas in education Culture War- disagreements in America about how our country and shared culture should work, which direction we are headed, and what our models of behavior should be key issues- abortion, gay marriage, immigration, global warming, death penalty, family values Compromise is impossible

Effects of Voting Rights Act (1965) on voting and representation

-began federal supervision of voting in southern states -allowed Minority-Majority districts (still around now) -disallowed English-only ballots (still around now) -led to a great increase in minority representation in Congress

Explain and identify reasons why voter turnout is higher in presidential elections than in midterm elections

-political efficacy- president is more well-known, more exposed to American people -increased media coverage- media is all over presidential elections, more money is spent -the congressman serves just one state, while the president serves the entire country

Social Capital- Putnam

Democratic and civic habits of discussion, compromise, and respect for differences, which grow out of participation in voluntary organizations

Voter turnout rates: presidential v. congressional-- what are the differences and why?

Higher in presidential: -political efficacy- president is more well-known, more exposed to American people -increased media coverage- media is all over presidential elections, more money is spent -the congressman serves just one state, while the president serves the entire country

Political efficacy-

belief that your ballot matters, knowledge of government

Identify characteristics of voters and non-voters and explain differences between voters and non-voters

characteristics of voters- typically a higher political efficacy more politically informed more educated age- older people are more likely to vote race- whites are more likely to vote gender- women vote more than men marital status- people who are married are more likely to vote government employees characteristics of non-voters- lower political efficacy- often times minorities- single people age- younger people are less likely to vote gender- men are less likely to vote differences- voters typically have a higher level of income, education and occupation while nonvoters are likely to be under 35, unmarried, and unskilled

What determines political participations

higher political efficacy

Identify factors that have contributed to the overall decline in turnout in federal elections and explain how they contributed to the decline

larger electorate- increasing population rates holds down the voter turnout rates (percentage goes down, although maybe more overall voters) less party mobilization- more people tend NOT to affiliate with political parties demographic changes- more young Americans, more minorities; young people and minorities tend to vote less rising cynicism- people believe "all candidates are the same", "no difference between parties" apathy or "too busy"- people generally more "involved" or "self-involved" than previous generations loss of political efficacy- some Americans feel their vote isn't as important as in previous generations

Demographics (age, race, gender, religion, geography, occupation, SES, etc.) for: liberal- conservative- libertarian- populist- Democrat- Republican- Examples of policies favor/not in favor (political generalizations)-

liberal- a belief that the government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity conservative- a belief that limited government ensures order, competitive markets, and personal opportunity socialist- an economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production and exchange libertarian- an ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government, promoting a free market economy, a non interventionist foreign policy, and an absence of regulation in moral, economic, and social life democrat- republican examples of policies- conservatives- like strong government, dislike state replacing family/church liberals- like social services, dislike concentrated power (threatens individual freedom) libertarianism- like limited government, dislike big government populists- like power to little people, dislike large government/business corporation

Identify and explain forms of participation in the political process in ways other than voting

litigation-- using the courts, attempt to influence political/public policy protest-- contacting media or public officials-- campaign work/voter registration-- campaign contributions running for political office/holding political office-- political discussion to persuade action-- membership in interest groups--

26th Amendment effects on election

lowered the voting age in every state to 18, increasing the pool of eligible voters

American political culture-- basic beliefs- attitudes toward freedom- changes since 1960s- public cynicism- Americans v. citizens of other western democracies- post Watergate trends- economic system support-

political culture- an overall set of values widely shared within a society American political culture- liberty, equality, democracy, equal opportunity of success, individuality, diversity attitudes toward freedom- all deserve freedom changes since 1960s- more accepting, equality for all, equal opportunity for success for all, more accepting of diversity public cynicism- all people are the same Americans v. others- Americans- higher sense of political efficacy, stress individualism, competition, equality, more religious Canada- peace, order, good government post-watergate trends- created more cynicism, less government participation, disgust with government economic system- economic liberty

political culture-- shared values-

political culture- an overall set of values widely shared within a society shared values- values that are believed by most people within a society

Political equality v. economic equality

political equality- the right to participate in politics on equal terms economic equality- when citizens are equally wealthy, have the same status in the economy, because they have the same opportunities, non discriminatory on race, sex, skill, culture, etc.

Political ideology- "inconsistent"- demographics- activists-

political ideology- a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events "inconsistent"- views that one holds that are opposite of their party's views demographics- study of characteristics of populations activists- those who attempt to persuade people to change their beliefs rather than the government (public opinion before public policy)

Political parties and ideology

political parties- Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Populist political ideology- a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

Political Socialization-- how does it develop- when does it develop- what or who is most influential- what is the role of media in developing political socialization-

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 how- informally, not from class, family, media, school when- young age at home what is most influential- parents media's role- "new parent", watching news, commercials, social networking

Public opinion v. public policy

public opinion-- the amount of people that believe a certain idea/belief/theory/etc. (could be different from the truth) public policy-- the course of action the government takes in response to an issue or problem

Gender gap

the regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

Public Opinion polls- validity- sample- population- distribution- sampling error- random digit dialing- oversampling- weighting-

validity- the most important information about political polls; if a poll has a low validity, it's useless sample- people who are polled population- total amount of people polled distribution- how the poll is given to population sampling error- no poll is entirely accurate; if you randomly sample 1500 to 2000 people, the error is +/- 3% random digit dialing- computers will utilize phone numbers to randomly call people, includes listed and unlisted numbers (random) oversampling- conducting a poll and also conduction a poll of a larger, more specific group at the same time weighting- if one group is over/under represented, their results must be accurately weighted to balance the population

Forms of political participation

voting litigation-- using the courts, attempt to influence political/public policy protest contacting media or public officials campaign work/voter registration campaign contributions running for political office/holding political office political discussion to persuade action membership in interest groups