Test #2 Terms Flashcards
Ken Kollman article
Lobbying is meant to influence members of the mass public
Inside and Outside lobbying (primarily outside)
Communicates sections of public opinion to policy makers by Publicizing an issue or position, inform Congress of protests
Show policy makers that certain groups actually care
Voter turnout
Generation gap; people have generally become uninterested, uninformed, etc.
Consequences of not participating: Lecture 10
In other countries, all parties are represented, and people feel as though they have a purpose. America = 2 party system
Referendum
common in state/local elections
direct vote from citizens on a policy changed by legislature or government body
Initiative
direct vote from citizens on policies proposed by organizations or groups; getting something onto a ballot (petitions)
Shanto Iyengar Article
discussion on how new forms of media are changing American politics; how have they affected people’s positions on politics? how has it made it easier for us to keep up with government actions?
Multi-Party System
system in which there are multiple parties that have the power to gain control over the government; “fair game” for any party
Free-rider
Practice of relying on others to contribute to a collective effort while not actually being one to participate
collective action problem
members of a group benefit by working together to reach a preferable outcome;
Random Sample
subsection of population chosen to participate in survey; went through selection process, but everyone had equal chance of being picked; improves accuracy of public opinion data
Polls
Exit: taken immediately after you vote
telephone: calling you and asking questions about election
focus group: qualitative research; asked about opinions, beliefs, etc., asked in group setting
Media effects
Media tells us what to think
Changes in media (print–broadcasting–internet)
Everything has become simplified–30 second commercials, photo ops, sound bytes, etc.
Politicians communicating with public, how public responds
agenda setting:
filtering:
Public Opinion
People’s view on politics and government actions; what govt is/should be doing; judgements about elected officials and others involved in politics.
People’s political actions (voting, contributing to campaigns) are driven by their opinions (party ID)
Candidates behavior: PP/politicians look to public opinion to determine platform
Public Opinion is crucial in understanding what motivates people to believe in or demand certain things
Political Idealogy
Liberal: emphasizing helping people, bigger government
conservative: smaller government; big business
communitarian: emphasizes connection between individual and community
libertarian: freedom, liberty, and voluntary association; generally small government
Watchdog/investigative journalism
Reporters that are digging deeply into topic of public concern; targeting government failures and inefficiency
Federal Communications Commissio
Regulate broadcast media (radio); regulations reflected assumption that airways were public property; nobody had inherent right to operate TV/radio stations; responsibility of station owners to reflect public opinion
Concern that company would buy enough stations to have influence on airways (one point of view); created to prevent that from happening
Political Party
Party that people identify with based on principles and beliefs
Plurality Rule
Candidate who receives most votes within geographic area wins election, regardless of whether the candidate wins the majority of votes
Duverger’s Law
Principle that in a democracy with single member districts and plurality voting, only two parties have a significant chance at winning election
Political Party in the Electorate
Group of people that identify with a specific political party
Party in GOvernment
Group of officeholders that are in a specific political party and were elected as candidates of that party
Political Primary
Ballot vote in which people select party rather than a specific candidate
Closed Primary
Only registered members of political party can vote
Incumbency
Voting for the incumbent candidate
In Congress, the incumbent usually wins; challenger might not be able to financially support campaign
Retrospective Voting
Small set of incumbent votes that have been cast while in office for other duties; vote for incumbent if they have behaved the way you wanted them to
Selective Benefits
motivate dissipation in a group effort because they are available only to those who participate; member services offered by interest groups
Interest GRoups
Economic: trade associations, labor groups, prof organizations; want to influence in a way that will help their members to derive economic benefits
Labor: pro union laws; regulations that make it easier for workers to form labor unions; require workers at company to join labor unions
Citizen (public): ton of members; speak for a larger segment of population; changes in spending, regulations for government programs that concern wide range of policies
single issue: focus lobbying on smaller range of topics; want to change one thing
Trade association: front for corporation’s own lobbying efforts
Lobbying
Effort to influence public policy through contact with public officials on behalf of interest groups
Inside Strategies
Tactics employed within DC by interest groups in order to achieve their own ideas
Political Socialization
process by which an individual’s political opinions are shaped by other people and surrounding culture
Equal Time Rule
If a radio or TV station gives time to candidate outside of news coverage, they have to give time to other candidates running for same office
Presidential Primary
each party determines how many delegates are allocated to each state
conventions held prior to presidential election
Party Systems
Federalists - democrat-republicans; national issues (national bank)
Democrats - Whigs: Tariffs/slavery: farmers vs. merchants
Republicans - Democrats: pre/post-civil war era, going into industrialization
Republicans - Democrats: industrialization
Democrats - Republicans: size and scope of federal government
Republicans - Democrats: size/scope of government, health care, civil rights, ind. liberties, foreign policy
Proportional Representation
during presidential primaries, determining number of convention delegates given to each candidate based on percentage of popular vote cast to each candidate
Party ORganization
organization of political party’s leaders and members; state, local, national
Divided Government
When House, Senate, and Presidency aren’t controlled by the same party
Open Primary
primary election in which any registered voter can participate, regardless of party affiliation
Political Action Committee
Interest group (division of interest group) that can raise money to contribute to a campaign or spend on advertisement in support of their candidate; money they receive from donors and amount that can be spend on ads is limited/regulated
Outside Strategies
Tactics employed outside of DC by interest groups seeking to achieve their policy goals