Test #2 Terms

Question 1

Ken Kollman article

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Voter turnout

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Referendum

Answer 3

common in state/local elections

direct vote from citizens on a policy changed by legislature or government body

Question 4

Initiative

Answer 4

direct vote from citizens on policies proposed by organizations or groups; getting something onto a ballot (petitions)

Question 5

Shanto Iyengar Article

Answer 5

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?

Question 6

Multi-Party System

Answer 6

system in which there are multiple parties that have the power to gain control over the government; “fair game” for any party

Question 7

Free-rider

Answer 7

Practice of relying on others to contribute to a collective effort while not actually being one to participate

Question 8

collective action problem

Answer 8

members of a group benefit by working together to reach a preferable outcome;

Question 9

Random Sample

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Polls

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Media effects

Answer 11

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:

Question 12

Public Opinion

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Political Idealogy

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Watchdog/investigative journalism

Answer 14

Reporters that are digging deeply into topic of public concern; targeting government failures and inefficiency

Question 15

Federal Communications Commissio

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Political Party

Answer 16

Party that people identify with based on principles and beliefs

Question 17

Plurality Rule

Answer 17

Candidate who receives most votes within geographic area wins election, regardless of whether the candidate wins the majority of votes

Question 18

Duverger’s Law

Answer 18

Principle that in a democracy with single member districts and plurality voting, only two parties have a significant chance at winning election

Question 19

Political Party in the Electorate

Answer 19

Group of people that identify with a specific political party

Question 20

Party in GOvernment

Answer 20

Group of officeholders that are in a specific political party and were elected as candidates of that party

Question 21

Political Primary

Answer 21

Ballot vote in which people select party rather than a specific candidate

Question 22

Closed Primary

Answer 22

Only registered members of political party can vote

Question 23

Incumbency

Answer 23

Voting for the incumbent candidate

In Congress, the incumbent usually wins; challenger might not be able to financially support campaign

Question 24

Retrospective Voting

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Selective Benefits

Answer 25

motivate dissipation in a group effort because they are available only to those who participate; member services offered by interest groups

Question 26

Interest GRoups

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Lobbying

Answer 27

Effort to influence public policy through contact with public officials on behalf of interest groups

Question 28

Inside Strategies

Answer 28

Tactics employed within DC by interest groups in order to achieve their own ideas

Question 29

Political Socialization

Answer 29

process by which an individual’s political opinions are shaped by other people and surrounding culture

Question 30

Equal Time Rule

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Presidential Primary

Answer 31

each party determines how many delegates are allocated to each state
conventions held prior to presidential election

Question 32

Party Systems

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Proportional Representation

Answer 33

during presidential primaries, determining number of convention delegates given to each candidate based on percentage of popular vote cast to each candidate

Question 34

Party ORganization

Answer 34

organization of political party’s leaders and members; state, local, national

Question 35

Divided Government

Answer 35

When House, Senate, and Presidency aren’t controlled by the same party

Question 36

Open Primary

Answer 36

primary election in which any registered voter can participate, regardless of party affiliation

Question 37

Political Action Committee

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Outside Strategies

Answer 38

Tactics employed outside of DC by interest groups seeking to achieve their policy goals