Political 1010

Historical events that change the majority of registered voter from party to another due to significant event (1932)

Is what the people think about an issue or set of issues at given point in time.

Polls are interviews or surveys of a sample citizens defining issues of concern to th public that shape administrative decisions.

• -Representative Quality
• -Time of Day
• -Trust in interview
• -Intensity of issue
• -Presumption of telephonessize of sample - limited choice of answer / options

• The process by which we develop our political
• values and opinions throughout our lives. What are the factors:
• The Family
• The Mass Media
• School / Peers
• Impact of Events (9-11 event)
• (social groups - religion, race, gender, region)

• the formal statement of a party's principles and
• policy objectives

• A voter who does not belong to any organized
• political party; often used as a synonym for an ­unaffiliated voter

A shift in party allegiances or electoral support - 1994 house gain more house and senate.

A situation in which fewer voters support the twomajor political parties, instead identifying themselves as independent, orsplitting their ticket between candidates from more than one party

• Direction:  Proportion of public that hold a point of view. Ex: Americans for death penalty the majority.
• Stablilty: How long a point of view is held Ex: death penalty is considered stable becuase it's been the majority opinion for long time.
• Intensity: Depth of feeling; Ex: cost of death penalty would cost you money but, it is not true.

• Ideologue: Sponteaneous knowledge of candidates, issues and polictical spectrum - good command of issue
• Near Ideologue: can accuraelty define liberal v. conservative perspectives.
• Group Benefits: Understands politics in relation to per group and/or other personal /professional assocation 9church or work -blue collar worker - union

• Nature of the times: political orientation is based on temporal experience.
• No issue Content: utterly clueless - politics don;t care

• Altered polictical function
• Donate (10%) money to party
• Seek Public Office
• Voting
• Bumper - stickers / tee-shirts
• Contacting Representative by e-mail letters, phone calls (20%)

Descriptive - Socioecomic Status - higher ecomic safety

SES - More education, wealth, income, occupation, age-older, experince, married status (more money more likely to vote)

Characteristic - race, gender, mobility

• Attitudinal - Internal political effiancy (how effect)
• External political effiancy - they do something
• Civic orientation
• Fear
• Anger
• Information partisanship & Ideiology

Difficult registration, Absentee Voting, number of elections, poor attitude voting, weak political values

• An organizations group that seek to achieve some of their
• goals by influencing government decision making on public policy.
• Strength in numbers
• Typology: members organization - martial arts, institutional - Schools like community colleges, issue/policy - MADD or NRA, industry - hotels such Hilton Hotels

Attempting to influence policy and/or legislative process.

• Who are the lobbist?  Post - congress career
• #1 job is consulant/Expert in issue or area

• Leadership, organization, deidicated members
• adequate funding
• notion of collective goods

• Door to door information drives
• petition drives
• internet drives
• protest activites
• nonviolent marches
• civil disobediences
• Citizen Acitity - use of the FOIA - Freedom of Information Act

A citizen's personal affinity for a politcal party

• #1 role is to get people elected.
• Facilitate voting make easier
• Organize the planks of platform
• Form coalition
• Recruit
• Polling- get out the vote, funding & additional campaign activities

• 1828 Jacksons  -Democrats formed - small gov't, states
• 1860 Lincoln - Republican formed - Strong national gov't
• 1932 Turned over Realignment flipped pary line

• 1932 - New Deal
• 1964 Civil Rights
• 1980 Regan Revolution
• Today -Healthcare, gay marriage, abortion

Chambers of Commerce, Non-college white men, southwest of country, cuban americans, professional, executes, white collar workers, protestants & evangelicals, married couples

Labor union members, women and college educated men (only 20%) of country, over 80% of african americans and hispanics, young people, catholics ( until Bush) and Jews, neo-liberal who belive in free trade, and lastly widows

Independants - rose form 19% to 40% today.

• The Party's Over?
• -Causes of decline
• -Billionaires
• -Ticket Splitting -the situation in which voters vote for
• candidates from more than one party
• Special Interest Groups - influence
• Coalitions compromise v. sovle
• Avoid cross-cutting issues -abortion

• Less Media candidates, more conviction
• More candidate support of platform
• Fund the Party (the ideas)over the person

• A party organized as opposition or an
• alternative to the existing parties in a two-party system, but make progress when major parties fail to incorporate new ideas

Winner take all elections, hard to get on ballot, Catch-22, campaign funding, media attention

• criticism and exposés of corruption in
• government and industry by journalists at the turn of the twentieth century  (Freedom Information Act)

Media tells us what it means , how important it is.

• 1. Reflect
• 2. Skilled people construct news
• 3. Product of inherant pressure of organization process(s)
• 4. Specific idiosyncratic & ideological bent - Clinton and monica lewlensky speech- same camera shot - some networks mute, others 3 second delay, and 1st one did was left it live,  CNN did put up old transcript about him what he siad before on bottom of screen while he was speaking live.

• 1. legal- Laws against falsehoods; FCC
• 2. Normative - Norms require considerations
• 3. CBS - Westinghouse
•     NBC - General Electric  (National  Broadcasting Network)
•     ABC - Disney
•     CNN - Time Warner
•     FOX - News Corp (20th. Century)

Impressionistic - News & Media make America seem like a war zone

Engenders Ethnocentrism: The world series earthquake

• Most medina companies are owned by major corporations
• Many journalist are liberal more exposed to the world
• Conservative are usally editors - more to protect

People search for "comfrontable" info. that "fits" with preexisting beliefs.

But people Screen Out or reject info. which they disagree.

• Not has nearly influentional as most people think, but one exception
• Media can be very influentional in international affairs/Foreign affairs