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The attitudes that people have about issues events, elected officials, politics and policy.
public opinion
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the basic principles that shape a person's opinions about political issues and events
political values (beliefs)
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a specific view on a particular issue, event or personality
Political Attitudes (opinion)
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4 agencies of political socialization
- 1. Family
- 2. Membership in social groups
- 3. Education
- 4. Political Environment
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What do most Americans consider themselves?
moderate with shades of liberal or conservative values
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3 forces that shape individuals opinions
- 1. Government; political leaders
- 2. Private Group
- 3. News media
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6 potential problems about polling
- 1. Social desirability effects
- 2. Selection Bias
- 3. Push Polling
- 4. Bandwagon effect
- 5. measurement error
- 6. Illusion of saliency
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questions in which respondents feel social pressure to answer a certain way.
Social desirability effects
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polling error that arises when the sample is not representative of the population being studied
Selection bias
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polling technique in which questions are designed to shape the respondent's opinion
Push Polling
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a shift in electoral support to the candidate whom public-opinion polls report as the front-runner
Bandwagon effect
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failure to identify the true distribution of opinion within a population because of errors such as ambiguous or poorly worded questions
measurement error
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the impression conveyed by polls that something is important to the public when it actually is not
illusion of saliency
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organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices
political parties concerned with personnel
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interest groups are concerned with
policy
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6 things political parties do?
- 1. parties recruit candidates
- 2. organize nominations
- 3. get out the vote
- 4. help the voter decide
- 5. organize power in congress
- 6. depends upon union support
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what happened to the 1st party system (feds and jeffersonian republicans)
Feds collapse after being associated with pro-british sympathies in the War of 1812
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What happened to the 2nd party system? (Democrats and whigs)
conflicts over slavery divided whigs and democrats; whig supporters go to Republican party
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What happened to the 4th Party System? (Republicans and Democrats)
Economy collapses/Republican blamed (Hoover)
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point in history when a new party replaces the ruling party
Electorial Realignment
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5 realignments
- 1. 1800-Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans dominate
- 2. 1828- Jacksonian Democrats dominate
- 3. 1860- Republicans/Democrats balanced
- 4. 1896- Republicans dominate
- 5. 1932- Democrats dominate
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Why is a America a 2-party system?
The number is determined by the electoral system
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4 reasons why 3rd parties do not last
- 1. parts of their programs may be adopted by major parties to appeal to voters mobilized by the new party
- 2. Some 3rd parties are absorbed
- 3. Assumptions only major candidates will win
- 4. hampered by Americas electoral system
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candidate need receive only the most votes in the election, not a majority of votes cast
plurality system
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an individual voters psychological ties to one party or another
Party ID
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what is the most common form of political participation
voting
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based on level of education, income and job prestige
socioeconomic status
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3 elements required for political participation
- 1. resources
- 2. civic engagement
- 3. recruitment
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3 factors that influence voter's decision at polls
- 1. partisan loyalty
- 2. Issue and policy concerns
- 3. Candidate characteristics
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select candidates to run in the general election (absolute majority)
Primary elections
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decisive electoral contest, winner is elected to office for a specified term (plurality)
General elections
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voters can wait until primary to choose party to select candidates for general elections
Open primary
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voters can participate in candidate's nomination but only for the party in which they have been enrolled for a period of time prior to primary
Closed Primary
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"Winner take all" or "first past the post". to win a candidate needs to receive only the most vote
plurality
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50% plus 1 vote
majority system
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multiple member district system that allows each political party representation in proportion to its percentage of the total vote
Proportional Representation
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__+__ =(congress) electoral votes
House + Senate
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___+___ +3 electoral votes for DC= _ electoral votes
435 house of representatives+ 100 Senators + 3= 538 electoral votes
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5 sources that fund political campaigns
- 1. Individual Donors
- 2. Political Action Committee (PAC)
- 3. Independent Spending
- 4. Public Funding
- 5. The candidates
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provides for public funding of presidential campaigns. Candidates who do not accept public finding are not bound by expenditure limits
Public Funding
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wealthy are better organized than the poor
theory of pluralism
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6 forms of interest groups and examples
- 1. Business and ag groups-Ex American farm Bureau Federation
- 2. Labor groups- Ex. United Mine Workers
- 3. Professional associations- Ex. American Medical Association
- 4. Public interest groups- Ex. Sierra club
- 5. Ideological groups- Ex. American way/Christian Coalition
- 6. Public Sector groups- Ex. League of Cities
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4 Organizational components of interest groups
- 1. leadership
- 2. money (most important)
- 3. agency or office
- 4. members (most important)
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6 Functions of interest groups
- 1. represent interests of their members
- 2. encourage political participation
- 3. enhance democracy
- 4. educate and mobilize voters
- 5. lobby govt officials
- 6. monitor govt activity
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benefits sought by groups that are broadly available and cannot be denied to nonmembers
Collective goods
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4 selective benefits offered by interest groups
- 1. Information benefits
- 2. Material benefits
- 3. solidarity benefits
- 4. Purposive benefits
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AARP members
36 million members/annual income of 900 million dollars
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3 primary characteristics of interest groups
- 1. higher incomes
- 2. higher education
- 3. management or professional occupation
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Primary purpose of PAC's
to raise and distribute furs for use in election campaign
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