American Political Ideologies 4: Citizens Beliefs and Polling

Question 1

Approval Rating

Answer 1

a measure of public support for a political figure or institution

Question 2

universe

Answer 2

the population from which a sample will be drawn

Question 3

Individualism

Answer 3

giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Question 4

Ideology

Answer 4

a system of ideas & ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy

Question 5

Libertarian

Answer 5

One who believes in limited gov. interference in personal and economic liberties

Question 6

valence issues

Answer 6

an issue about which the public is united and rival candidates/political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs

Question 6

Baby boomers

Answer 6

(1946-1964), Key segment due to their size and earnings, willing to invest money, time and energy

Question 7

bandwagon effect

Answer 7

a shift in electoral support to the candidate whom public opinion polls report as the front-runner

Question 8

benchmark polls

Answer 8

initial poll on a candidate and issues on which campaign strategy is based and against which later polls are compared

Question 9

Conservative

Answer 9

A person who believes gov. power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom

Question 10

entrance polls

Answer 10

voters asked about which candidate they are going to vote for and why

Question 11

exit polls

Answer 11

polls based on interviews conducted on election day with randomly selected voters

Question 12

focus groups

Answer 12

a strategy to obtain from a small group of people using interview questions

Question 13

Free enterprise

Answer 13

an economic system in which individuals and businesses are allowed to compete for profit with a minimum of gov. interference

Question 14

Gen X

Answer 14

1965-1976

Question 15

Globalization

Answer 15

actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope

Question 16

Liberal

Answer 16

open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values, larger gov

Question 17

lifecycle effects

Answer 17

variety of physical, social and psychological changes that people go through in a lifetime

Question 18

Limited Gov

Answer 18

A principle of constitutional gov, a gov. whose powers are defined and limited by a constitution

Question 19

margin of error

Answer 19

the range of percentage points in which the sample accurately reflects the population

Question 20

Millennials

Answer 20

the 83 million children of the baby boomers born between 1977-2000

Question 21

Moderate

Answer 21

Person whose views are between conservative and liberal and may include both of some ideologies

Question 22

Party Identification

Answer 22

a citizen’s self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other

Question 23

Political Socialization

Answer 23

the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions

Question 24

Populist

Answer 24

a supporter of the rights and power of the people, typically from working-class families

Question 25

progressive

Answer 25

a belief that personal freedom and solving social problems are more important, workers’ rights and labor unions

Question 26

push polling

Answer 26

a polling technique in which the question are designed to shape the respondent’s opinions

Question 27

random sampling

Answer 27

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Question 28

random digit dialing

Answer 28

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

Question 29

representative sampling

Answer 29

a process for selecting research participants whose characteristics fairly reflect the characteristics of the population from which they were drawn

Question 30

Rule of Law

Answer 30

principle that the law applies to everyone, even those governing

Question 31

Saliency

Answer 31

the degree to which an issue is important to a particular individual or group

Question 32

sampling error

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Silent Generation

Answer 33

youth of the 50’s that seemed to conform to middle class culture without question

Question 34

stratification

Answer 34

demographic groups are properly represented in a sample

Question 35

tracking polls

Answer 35

continuous surveys that enable a campaign or news organization to chart a candidate’s daily rise or fall in support

Question 36

weighting

Answer 36

adjustments to surveys during analysis so that selected demographic groups reflect their values in the population, usually as measured by the census