Midterm #3

Question 1

Narrowcasting

Answer 1

When media focuses on one topic and is aimed at distinct people

Question 2

News Management

Answer 2

The efforts of a politician’s staff to control news about the politician

Question 3

Citizen Journalism

Answer 3

Movement among journalists to be responsive to citizen input in determining what news stories to cover

Question 4

Media as Gatekeepers

Answer 4

Deciding what gets covered and how. Two types are priming and framing.

Priming: influence the public perception of certain people, events, and issues by emphasis given to particular characteristic of them
Framing: process through which the media emphasize particular aspects of a new story, thereby influencing public perception of the story

Question 5

Retrospective vs Prospective Voting

Answer 5

Retrospecfive: basing voting decisions on reactions on past performance; approving the status quo or signaling a desire for change

Prospective: basing voting decisions on well-informed opinions and consideration of the future consequences of a given vote

Question 6

Interest Group vs. Political Action Committee

Answer 6

Interest Group: organization of individuals who share a common political goal and unite for the purpose of influencing government decisions

Political Action Committees (PACs): fundraising arms of interest groups

Question 7

Rational Voter Model (costs versus benefits)

Answer 7

People will vote if the benefits are larger than the costs. Someone’s vote is unlikely to swing an election so it might not take any costs to outweigh the benefit

Question 8

Responsible Party Model

Answer 8

Party government when four conditions are met: clear choice of ideologies, candidates pledged to implement ideas, party held accountable by voters, and party control over members

Question 9

Media as Agenda Setters

Answer 9

Media influences what people think about. A lot of the public gets their information from the media so the media essentially able to dictate what people see

Question 10

Citizens United v. EFC

Answer 10

2010, Supreme Court ruled that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited because private corporations have the freedom to spend money on campaigns thought the first amendment

Question 11

Publicly Funded Elections

Answer 11

From 1976 until 2008, every major-party general election campaign for president was publicly financed for the two major parties and for any third party that did well in the previous election.

Question 12

Defection Rates of Partisans

Answer 12

People believe that their vote is not needed or that their party is strong enough that it is okay that they do not show up and vote. This weakens the party if a large majority of the public do this.

Question 13

Free Rider Problem

Answer 13

Free Rider problem is people taking advantage of being able to use a common resource, or collective good, without paying for it, as is the case when citizens of a country utilize public goods without paying their fair share in taxes.

Free riders can make it hard for interest groups to attract members. They have created selective incentives for membership

Question 14

Madison’s conception of Faction

Answer 14

According to Madison, factions are groups of citizens who advocate for their own interests over the common good. Madison wanted to limit them.

Question 15

Revolving Door in media and lobbying

Answer 15

Revolving door is the tendency of public officials, journalists, and lobbying to move between public and private sectors. Movement of personnel between roles as legislators and regulators

Question 16

Collective Action

Answer 16

Action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their status and achieve a common objective

Question 17

Why interest groups form

Answer 17

They attempt to influence policy, organize lobbying, and mobilize groups to influence congress for people with a shared/similar interest

Question 18

Role of Parties in Democracies

Answer 18

Group of like-minded people who work together as a unit to influence the general public, context elections to gain control over the government. Members of the same political party share a common goal, aims and objectives. Political parties formulate public policies, educate public opinion, and provide political stability.

Question 19

What a Democrat and Republican believe

Answer 19

Democrat: government action to solve social problems. Government should stay our of the people’s personal, religious and moral lives

Republican: government should provide social and moral order and should play little role in the economy

Question 20

Party Systems

Answer 20

System of government by political parties in a democratic country.

Question 21

Types of Interest Groups

Answer 21

Public: organize to influence government to produce collative good or service that benefit the general public (in their view)

Equal Rights: organize to promote the civil and economic rights of underrepresented or disadvantaged groups

Economic: interested in their own interests and say no to the “greater good” and that their interests benefit the greater good but it is secondary at best

Government: foreign government lobby the government as well. This is very controversial

Question 22

Role of Parties in Democracies

Answer 22

Group of like-minded people who work together as a unit to influence the general public, context elections to gain control over the government. They provide a link between voters and elected officials by helping tell voters what candidates stand for, help overcome some of the fragmentation in government, and provide a clear opposition of the ideas and policies of those elected to serve in government.

Question 23

External and Internal Pressure on Parties

Answer 23

The public putting pressure on the parties and members of the party putting pressure on one another

Question 24

‘Ideal Citizen’ vs. Actual Citizens in terms of Public Opinion

Answer 24

Ideal: basing voting decisions on well-informed opinion and consideration of the future consequences of a given vote (prospective)

Actual: basing vote decisions on reactions to past performance; approving the status quo or signaling a desire for change (retrospective)

Question 25

Trends of Americans participation in government

Answer 25

Up and down but for the most part it is maintaining the same turn out for presidential and midterm elections.

Question 26

Influence of Opinions

Answer 26

The biggest factor when someone is deciding who to vote for is the party they identify with. There is direct influence of the vote and indirect which affects the perception of issued and the candidate evaluation

Question 27

Faithless Elector

Answer 27

Member of the Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice-presidential candidate for whom they had pledged to vote

Question 28

Divided vs. Unified Government

Answer 28

Divided: political rule split between two parties where one controls the White House while the other control one or both houses of Congress. Theoretically, this puts the nation into gridlock

Unified: political rule is not split between two parties. One party has complete control over the White House and one or both houses of Congress. Theoretically, this makes it easier for policies and laws to be passed

Question 29

Political Party Evolution - why has realignment occurred

Answer 29

Realignment is when there is a major shift in a nation’s political system that occurs when a parties existing principles are altered after a major event

Question 30

Functions of Political parties

Answer 30

They bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favorable to their interests and the groups that support them, and organize the persuade voters to elect their candidates to office.