PSC211 Exam 2

one thing that affects voter turnout?

income; lower income means less likely to vote

grassroots party

A political party organized at the level of the voters and dependent on their support for its strength.

what is modern conservatism?

fusion conservatism: libertarians + traditional conservatism + national security

The principal medium for election politics is

television

social (cultural) liberals

Those who believe it is not government's role to buttress traditional values at the expense of unconventional or new values.

"Agency capture" occurs when

regulatory agencies side with the industries they are supposed to regulate rather than with the public.

liberalism concerns

"freedom from" to positive liberty (removing discrimination, ill health, lack of edu); individual focused, less equality focused and more freedom focused; uptopian

What percentage of states hold their gubernatorial elections in nonpresidential years?

75 percent

With what amendment did African Americans supposedly gain the right to vote?

15th

When was the most recent reelignment and why was it different?

1972; it was more gradual than previous; shift to modern ish day republicans and democrats

Eighteen-, nineteen-, and twenty-year-old Americans were granted the right to vote by the passage of the ________ Amendment.

26th

party-centered campaigns

A campaign in which the party coordinates activities, raises money, and develops strategies.

high-choice media system

A media system in which audiences have such a wide range of choices that they can largely control the type of information to which they are exposed.

low-choice media system

A media system in which people have a small number of news outlets available to them, which limits their choices.

What would be an example of priming in action?

A news viewer expects violent crime to escalate because the evening news starts with a violent crime each night.

delegate

A person appointed or elected to represent others; more direct representation of the votes of the people

Fairness Doctrine

A principle that formerly obligated broadcasters to present both sides of an issue

A recent YouGov/More in Common poll found that

Americans believe that nearly twice as many in the opposing party hold extreme views as the number who actually hold such views.

Which of the following is true of Americans' pride in their democracy?

Americans' pride in their democracy has decreased rapidly in recent decades, largely as a result of increasing partisanship.

Which of the following countries has had the highest estimated voter turnout in recent national elections?

Belgium

trustees

Elected representatives whose obligation is to act in accordance with their own consciences as to what policies are in the best interests of the public.

Candidate Centered Campaigns

Election campaigns and other political processes in which candidates, not political parties, have most of the initiative and influence.

closed primaries

Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty.

open primaries

Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.

________ warned Americans of the "baneful effects" of factions (political parties) in his 1797 farewell address.

George Washington

intensity

How strongly people feel about certain political issues.

Occupy Wall Street's main target has been

the widening income gap between the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and the rest of society.

________ is associated with the Era of Good Feeling.

James Monroe

Who was a big advocate for objective journalism/

Joseph Pulitzer

partisan press

Newspapers and other communication media that openly support a political party and whose news in significant part follows the party line.

What is true of political campaigns and party politics in the United States?

Party organizations are less powerful than they used to be in part because of the rise of television advertising.

What are the two distinguishing characteristics of political socialization?

Political socialization is cumulative, and it is most heavily developed during childhood

The issue of slavery gave birth to the ________ Party as a major political party.

Republican

Reasons for lack of 3rd party

Single Member District system; ballot access laws; lack of resources; strong partisan ties; fear of wasted vote; major parties adopt 3rd party positions

selective perseption

The phenomenon that people's beliefs often guide what they pay the most attention to and how they interpret events.

public opinion

The politically relevant opinions held by ordinary citizens that they express openly.

free rider problem

The problem faced by unions and other groups when people do not join because they can benefit from the group's activities without officially joining. The bigger the group, the more serious the problem.

source bias

The tendency of modern journalists to seek a limited range of opinions and views from certain groups and institutions as they report the news.

median voter theorem

The theory that parties in a two-party system can maximize their vote by locating themselves at the position of the median voter—the voter whose preferences are exactly in the middle.

iron triangle

The three-way alliance among legislators, bureaucrats, and interest groups to make or preserve policies that benefit their respective interests.

What is true of letter writers and demonstrators?

Their opinions tend to be more extreme than those of the population as whole.

social (cultural) conservatives

Those who believe government power should be used to uphold traditional values.

What was one of the unexpected side-effects of Americans heeding expert advice regarding COVID-19?

Traffic and air pollution dropped to their lowest levels in decades.

The citizens of ________ have the largest number of organized interest groups at their disposal.

USA

ideology

a general belief about the role and purpose of government

Party identification refers to

a person's sense of loyalty to a political party

information commons

a shared set of facts and ideas transmitted through the news media

Regular voters tend to be characterized by a

a strong sense of civic duty.

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions

inside lobbying

activities by lobbyists and interest group leaders that involve direct contact with policy makers

signaling (signaler) function

alerting the public to important developments as soon as possible after they happen

sampling error

an error that occurs when a sample somehow does not represent the target population

two reasons people might not vote (feelings)

apathy and alienation

Why did voter registration begin?

around 1900 to try to keep people from voting more than once on Election Day

what is the impact of public opinion?

block or force change; define boundries of acceptable action

The influence of interest groups through the courts occurs through

both initiating lawsuits and lobbying for certain judges to be appointed to the bench

The largest number of PACs are those associated with

business

Attitudes that lead to voter participation?

civic duty, efficacy, strength of partisonship, interest

political context that leads to voter participation

competition and clear choice

Why might IGs have the right amount of power?

competition leads to better policy; way for regular people to influence politics; raise awareness of ignored issues; help identify programs that aren't working well

Why is conservative populism an apparent oxymoron?

conserv. want incremented change; populists want radical change

What would the conservative approach to handling national debt be?

cut spending incrementally and raise taxes

Outside lobbying does NOT include

developing and maintaining close contacts with policymakers.

What are the three demensions of public opinion?

direction, intensity, and salience

probability sampling

each member of the population has a specifiable probability of being chosen at random for inclusion

Journalist Walter Lippmann suggested that

effective government cannot be run by politicians that base their public opinions on poll results.

Occupy Wall Street

emerged in 2011 to target the widening income gap between 1 percent and everyone else; to express anger at the government not holding banks responsible for their role in 2008; "We are the 99%"

three elements of party reelignment

emergence of unusually powerful and divisive issues; election contests in which voters shift their partisan support; an enduring change in parties' politics and coalitions

The news provides a refracted version of reality because it

emphasizes dramatic and compelling news stories.

Few developments illustrate the importance of ________ as sources of opinion more clearly than how Americans reacted to the threat posed by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

experts

What are the primary socializing agents?

family, school, religion

Why might interests groups have too much power?

favor the wealthy; subordinating majority interests for minority

What is a challenge for citizen groups?

free rider problem

What are some big boundries of acceptable action?

freedom, economic liberty, capitalism, equality (value consensus but issue difference)

advantages of candidate-centered campaigns

gives flexibility to candidates, attracts new voters, encourages responsiveness to local interests

What is a characteristic of the "inattentive audience"?

greater susceptibility to disinformation

In terms of the saliency of public opinion on gun control,

gun control usually ranks low on the public's list of top issues.

Presidential candidates in the 1960s, compared with today,

had longer sound bites, on average, in broadcast television newscasts.

salience

how important people think an issue is relative to other issues

A conservative is opposed to government intervention

in the economic but not the social sphere.

The frequency of elections in the United States reduces voter turnout by

increasing the personal effort needed to participate in all elections.

What is conservativism interested in?

incremented reform

PACs tend to contribute the most money to

incumbents

politcal participation

involvement in activities intended to influence public policy and leadership

What is most likely to affect the accuracy of the poll?

its size

The chief obstacle to Americans' participation in community activities is the

lack of personal motivation to get involved.

What is/are vital to large campaigns' ability to generate funding?

large contact lists

What are the two principal ideologies?

liberalism and conservatism

In the dynamics of an iron triangle, what benefit do interest groups provide to friendly government agencies?

lobbying support for agency programs

What term do scholars use for a purported opinion offered by a respondent who is unfamiliar with the specific issue?

nonopinion

most democracies have a ......... party system

multiparty

disadvantages of candidate centered campaigns

no gatekeeping extremists; individual character bigger role; weakens accountability; showmanship over substance; empowers special interests; weak parties, strong partisanship

The average cable news viewer is

older than 50.

political party

ongoing coalition of itnersts joined together under a common label in an effort to get its candidates elected

When the nation was founded, who was eligible to vote?

only males who owned property

The Tea Party's key initial issue was

opposition to high taxes.

What are the US's biggest dividers?

partisonship and ideology

what are the secondary socializing agents?

peers, media, leaders, events

economic conservatives

people who believe the government should leave the distribution of economic benefits to teh working of the free market

economic liberals

people who think that government should use its power to help those who are economically disadvantaged

The history of democratic government is virtually inseparable from the history of

politcal parties

Although "independents" are idealized in high school civics classes, their lack of partisanship makes it less likely that they have

political interest

agenda setting

power of the media to influence what is on people's minds

Another name for an interest group is

pressure group

what type of representational system is used in most european democracies?

proportional representation

Effective inside lobbying is based upon

providing useful and persuasive information to key officials.

conventional participation

relatively routine political behaviors (voting, working campaigns, signs, donations, etc)

Objective journalism is based on the idea that the reporter's job is to

report the facts and present both sides of a partisan debate.

what are the advantages of the republicans? dems?

republicans have geographical advantage while dems have demographic advantage

common carrier function

serving as a conduit through which political leaders communicate with the public

What does not tend to decrease voter turnout?

sharp policy differences between major parties

What are the three functions of the media?

signaling, common-carrier, watchdog

The first American political parties emerged from the conflict between

small farmers and states' rights advocates, and those favoring commercial and wealthy interests

What is conservativism concerned with?

social fragility; democracy particularly fragile to depraved human nature; law of unintended consequences

political movements

social movements; a way for citizens dissatisfied with government to openly express their opposition

political socialization

the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions

public opinion poll

survey in which individuals are interviewed in order to estimate the opinions of the whole population

outside lobbying

the act of lobbying indirectly by taking the organization's message to the public, often through the use of the media and/or by issue press releases, in hopes that the public will then put pressure on lawmakers

priming

the way in which the framing of a message affects how people will interpret it

framing

the way journalists select a particular aspect of a situation and build their story around it

primary elections give

the control of nominations to teh voters

The major reason for the persistence of the American two-party system is

the existence of single-member election districts.

sample

the individuals intended to represent the population to be studied

In terms of the direction of public opinion on gun control,

the majority favors stricter gun control laws.

the more partisan someone is

the more likely they are to be missinformed

People are "primed" to see a politician as self-serving when

the press frames a politician as seeking to win at all costs.

The news media's common-carrier role is based on the idea that

the press should provide a channel through which political leaders can communicate their views to the public.

What development brought about a dramatic reduction in television's capacity to generate an interest in news?

the rapid spread of cable TV

watchdog function

the responsibility to expose incompetent, hypocritical, and corrupt officials

suffrage

the right to vote

nomination

the selection of the individual who will run as the party's candidate in the general election

identity politics

the situation where people base their concerns on a group identity (ie race or religion) and align themselves politically with those who share that identity and against those who don't

The key factors in determining the accuracy of an opinion poll are

the size of the sample and whether the sample was selected from the population by a random method.

Women are less likely than men to favor

the use of force to settle international disputes

Unlike other democracies, the United States

uses primaries to select political candidates

What are some biases in media?

what makes a profit, partisanship, elite bias, pro democracy bias, government bias, greater social liberal, and euro centric bias

direction

whether people have a pro or con position on a topic

In acknowledging the dilemma inherent in group activity, James Madison

worried that government would be overly dominated by groups, but recognized that a free society is obliged to permit the advocacy of self-interest.