ch 14 Flashcards
Straight-ticket voting
voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party.
Split-ticket voting
voting for candidates from different parties in the same election.
Party Platform
a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to.
Recruitment
the process through which political parties identify potential candidates.
Party Coalition
interest groups and like-minded voters who support a political party over time.
Realignment
when the groups of people who support a political party shift their allegiance to a different political party.
Critical Election
a major national election that signals a change in the balance of power between the two parties.
Party era
time period when one party wins most national elections.
Era of divided government
a trend since 1969, in which one party controls one or both houses of Congress and the president is from the opposing party.
Nomination
the formal process through which parties choose their candidates for political office.
Delegate
a person who acts as the voters’ representative at a convention to select the party’s nominee.
Primary Election
an election in which a state’s voters choose delegates who support a particular presidential candidate for nomination or an election by a plurality vote to select a party’s nominee for a seat in Congress.
Open Primary
a primary election in which all eligible voters may vote, regardless of their party affiliation.
Closed Primary
a primary election in which only those who have registered as a member of a political party may vote.
Caucus
a process through which a state’s eligible voters meet to select delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process.
Superdelegate
usually, a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcomes of the state’s primary or caucus.
Front-loading
a decision by a state to push its primary or caucus to a date as early in the election season as possible to gain more influence in the presidential nomination process.
National Convention
a meeting where delegates officially select their party’s nominee for the presidency.
Candidate-centered campaign
a trend in which candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the party elite.
Two-party system
a system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections.
Proportional representation system
an election system for a legislature in which citizens vote for parties, rather than individuals, and parties are represented in the legislature according to the percentage of the vote they receive.
Single-member plurality system
an election system for choosing members of the legislature where the winner is the candidate who receives the most votes, even if the candidate does not receive a majority of the votes.
Third party
a minor political party in competition with the two major parties.
