Unit I: Public Opinion, Political Action, Mass Media, and Political Agenda

Question 1

Public opinion

Answer 1

The distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues.

Question 2

Demography

Answer 2

The science of population changes.

Question 3

Census

Answer 3

An “actual enumeratation” of the population, which the Constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years, the Census is a valuable tool for understanding demographic changes.

Question 4

Melting pot

Answer 4

A term often used to characterize the U.S., with its history of immigration and mixing of cultures, ideas, and people.

Question 5

Minority majority

Answer 5

The situation, likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, in which non-hispanic whites will represent a minority of the U.S. Population and minority groups together will represent a majority.

Question 6

Political culture

Answer 6

An overall set of values widely shared within a society.

Question 7

Reapportionment

Answer 7

The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the Census

Question 8

Political socialization

Answer 8

The process through which an individual acquires political attitudes, views, and knowledge from, among other sources, family, the media, and school.

Question 9

Sample

Answer 9

A relatively small portion of people who are chosen is a survey so as to be representative of the whole.

Question 10

Random sampling

Answer 10

The key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample.

Question 11

Sample error

Answer 11

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people (>1,000) interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

Question 12

Exit poll

Answer 12

Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.

Question 13

Push poll

Answer 13

Leading questions with wording with the purpose to spread false info in order to change the participants’ views.

Question 14

Political ideology

Answer 14

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events.

Question 15

Gender gap

Answer 15

Women are more likely to support Democratic candidates due to being more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending.

Question 16

Political participation

Answer 16

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. The most common means of political participation is voting; other means include contacting public officials, protest, and civil disobedience.

Question 17

Protest

Answer 17

A form of political participation designed to achieve policy changes through dramatic and unconventional tactics.

Question 18

Civil disobedience

Answer 18

A form of political disobedience based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences. The civil rights movement is a famous and successful example of it.

Question 19

High-tech politics

Answer 19

A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology.

Question 20

Mass media

Answer 20

Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication.

Question 21

Media events

Answer 21

Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media are there.

Question 22

Press conferences

Answer 22

Meetings of public officials with reporters. FDR held two conferences a week during his 12 years, practically inventing media politics.

Question 23

Investigative journalism

Answer 23

The use of in-depth reporting to un-earth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders. The Watergate Scandal, Pentagon Papers, and Vietnam War are common examples.

Question 24

Print media

Answer 24

Newspapers and magazines, as compared with electronic media.

Question 25

Electronic media

Answer 25

Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media.

Question 26

Net neutrality

Answer 26

A former federal regulatory policy by the FCC holding that internet service providers must provide equal access to broadband for all websites to their costumers, favored by Democrats.

Question 27

Broadcasting

Answer 27

Media programming sending their signals to a broad audience, dealing with various subjects that had widespread public appeal.

Question 28

Narrowcasting

Answer 28

Media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on a particular interest and aimed at a particular audience.

Question 29

Selective exposure

Answer 29

The process through which people consciously choose to get the news from information sources that have viewpoints compatible with their own.

Question 30

Chains

Answer 30

Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation.

Question 31

Beats

Answer 31

Specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House. Most top reporters work at a particular beats, thereby becoming specialists in what goes on at that location.

Question 32

Trial balloons

Answer 32

Policy ideas floated to the media for the purpose of assessing the likely political reaction.

Question 33

Sound bites

Answer 33

Short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. Typically, they are all that is shown from a politician’s speech on the nightly television news.

Question 34

Talking head

Answer 34

A shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera. Because such shots are visually unstimulating, the news networks rarely show politicians talking for very long.

Question 35

Policy agenda

Answer 35

The issues that attend the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at a point in time.

Question 36

Policy entrepreneurs

Answer 36

People who invest their political “Capital” in an issue.

Question 37

What is the Republican party’s beliefs?

Answer 37

• More military spending
• More military intervention overseas
• Support “right to life”
• Support prayers in school
• Oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants
• Favor free-market solutions that is not in the public interest
• Support taxing everyone
• Want to limit spending on the poor to just what’s necessary
• Believe that the gov. needs to be tougher with criminals
• Don’t support defending Defendents’ rights

Question 38

What is the Democratic party’s beliefs?

Answer 38

• Believe in less military spending
• Less willing to support overseas action
• Support “freedom of choice”
• Opposed to prayer in schools
• Support amnesty for illegal immigrants
• Support regulation of the market that is in public interest
• Want to tax the rich
• Want to spend more on benefits for the needy
• Believe the gov. should address the problems that cause crime
• Believe we should guard Defendents’ rights

Question 39

Audience fragmentation

Answer 39

The process of dividing audience members into segments based on background and lifestyle in order to send them messages targeted to their specific characteristics.

Question 40

Media literacy

Answer 40

The ability to apply critical thinking skills to the mass media, thereby becoming a more aware and responsible citizen in our media driven society.

Question 41

Random digit-dialing

Answer 41

A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey. Most random digit-dialing happens to landline phones due to being cheaper, but leaves out a good portion of the population and can lead to results being shifted.