CH.14 Flashcards
What is a political party?
An organized group of party leaders, officeholders, and voters who work together to elect candidates to political office.
What is party identification?
The degree to which a voter is connected to and influenced by a particular political party.
What is straight-ticket voting?
Voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party.
What is split-ticket voting?
Voting for candidates from different parties in the same election.
What is a party platform?
A set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to.
What is recruitment in a political context?
The process through which political parties identify potential candidates.
What are party coalitions?
Groups of voters who support a political party over time.
What is realignment?
When the groups of people who support a political party shift their allegiance to a different political party.
What is a critical election?
A major national election that signals a change in the balance of power between the two parties.
What is a party era?
Time period when one party wins most national elections.
What is the 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.
What is nomination in politics?
The formal process through which parties choose their candidates for political office.
What is a delegate?
A person who acts as the voters’ representative at a convention to select the party’s nominee.
What is a primary election?
An election in which a state’s voters choose delegates who support a presidential candidate for nomination or an election by a plurality vote to select a party’s nominee for a seat in Congress.
What is an open primary?
A primary election in which all eligible voters may vote, regardless of their party affiliation.
What is a closed primary?
A primary election in which only those who have registered as a member of a political party may vote.
What is a caucus?
A process through which a state’s eligible voters meet to select delegates to represent their preferences in the nomination process.
What is a superdelegate?
Usually a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the state’s primary or caucus.
What is 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.
What is a national convention?
A meeting where delegates officially select their party’s nominee for the presidency.
What is a candidate-centered campaign?
A trend in which candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the party elite.
What is a two-party system?
A system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections.
What is a 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.
What is a 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.
What is a third party?
A minor political party in competition with the two major parties.
