Unit 5 – Linkage Institutions – Vocab List for Quiz #1 Flashcards
Political party
A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office.
Realigning period
An election where there’s a dramatic change in party identification.
Party decline
When people gradually move away from both political parties, marked by decreasing influence of both parties on voters and govt.
Democratic Party
A political party founded in the 1790s by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other leaders who wanted to preserve the power of the state governments and promote agriculture.
Republican Party
Political party established in the United States in 1854 with the goal of keeping slavery out of the western territories.
Divided government
Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
Faction
A group or clique within a larger group, party, or government.
Grass-roots organization
A type of social movement organization that relies on high levels of membership participation to promote social change. it lacks a hierarchical structure and works through existing political structures.
Plurality
Candidate or party with the most votes cast in an election, not necessarily more than half.
Linkage institution
The means by which individuals can express preferences regarding the development of public policy.
Political efficacy
One’s own influence or effectiveness on politics.
Proportional representation
Representation of all parties in proportion to their popular vote.
Winner-take-all electoral system
An electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election.
Split-ticket voting
Casting votes for candidates of one’s own party and for candidates of opposing parties.
Straight-ticket voting
Practice of voting for candidates of only one party in an election.
Party platform
A political party’s statement of its goals and policies for the next four years.
Patronage
Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support.
Third party
A political party organized in opposition to the major parties in a two-party system.
Independent
A voter or candidate who does not identify with a political party.
National Committee
Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions.
National Convention
The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party’s platform.
Congressional campaign committee
A party of committee in Congress that provides funds to members and would-be members.
National chairman
Day-to-day party manager elected by the national committee.
Superdelegates
Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses.
Political machine
An organization linked to a political party that often controlled local government.
Two-party system
An electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections.
Plurality system
An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections.
Caucus
A meeting of party members to select delegates backing one or another primary candidate.
Incumbent
Obligatory, required; one who holds a specific office at the time spoken of.
Coattails
The tendency of candidates to win more votes by riding on a ticket of a well-known candidate.
Political Action Committee (PAC) & SuperPAC
A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations.
Malapportionment
Drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population.
Gerrymandering
The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent.
Primary election
A preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen.
Single member district
An electoral district that returns one officeholder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature.
General election
A national or state election.
Position issue
An issue about which the public is divided and rival candidates or political parties adopt different policy positions.
Valence issue
An issue about which the public is united and rival candidates or political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs.
“Critical elections” (maintaining, deviating)
***a dramatic change in the political system
Closed primary
A primary in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote.
Open primary
Primary election in which any voter, regardless of party, may vote.
Blanket primary
A primary election in which each voter may vote for candidates from both parties.
Runoff primary
A second primary election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary.
FECA 1974
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which limited amounts that candidates for federal offices can spend on advertising, required the disclosure of the sources of campaign funds as well as how they are spent, and required PACs to register with the government and report all major contributions and expenditures.
Hard Money
Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed.
Soft Money
Political contributions made in such a way as to avoid the United States regulations for federal election campaigns (as by contributions to a political action committee).
Independent Expenditures
Spending by political action committees, corporations, or labor unions that is done to help a party or candidate but is done independently of them.
527
A tax-exempt group that raises money for political activities, much like those allowed under the soft money loophole.
dark money
Funds given to nonprofit organizations.
McCain-Feingold (BCRA)
Federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns.
Buckley v. Valeo
A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.
McConnell v. FEC
Upheld the constitutionality of most of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), often referred to as the McCain–Feingold Act.
Citizens United v. FEC
Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.
McCutcheon v. FEC
Struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to political parties.
Retrospective voting
Voting for a candidate because you like his or her past actions in office.
