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Govt. 2303 - Exam 3
Chapter 6, 9, & 10
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Public Opinion | What the public thinks about a particular issue @ a PARTICULAR TIME. Opinion change over time AND they tend to be measured by opinion polls. |
| Polls | interviews/surveys of a SAMPLE of citizens used to estimate how the public feels about an issue or set of issues. |
| Sample | a SUBSET of a population (part). |
| Concensus Opinion | When there is general agreement on an issue. |
| Divisive Opinion | When opinions are sharply divided. |
| Socialization | how an individual acquires his/her set of values/beliefs. Occurs over a long period of time. Generalization effect. Gender effect. Lifestyle effect. |
| Generational Effect | based on generations. |
| Gender Effect | differences b/w men and women (on several issues). |
| Lifestyle Effects | affects how someone thinks over a long time (religious, moral, economic, etc.) |
| Sources (affecting) | family, peers & peer group influence, education (school), region of country; opinion leaders' influence, media presentation. |
| Demographic Influences | education (school), economic status/income, religious influence, race & ethnicity, gender, region of country, age. |
| Straw Polls | variety of ways (movie theaters/diners) -- (Ex: determining political party by popcorn bucket design). |
| Literary Digest | used straw polls that are now seen as highly problematic. (Ex: only for people w/ phones & cars). {oversampling} |
| Issues w/ Literary Digest | timing (cards are sent in August & election in November), self-selection (only those people interested are likely to return postcards), oversampling. |
| In order for a poll to be reliable, it must have: | proper question wording; an accurate sample (sample & population). |
| Kinds of Polling | Mail Survey Polling; Face to Face Polling; Telephone Polling; Internet Polling. |
| Types of Polls | Tracking Polls, Exits Polls, Push Polls, and Deliberative Polls. |
| Tracking Polls | continuous surveys that enable a campaign to chart its daily rise & fall in popularity. Good reflection of what a person thinks over a period of time. |
| Exit Polls | polls conducted @ polling places on election day (done as people leave the voting site). Must be 1/4 of a mile away from polling station. |
| Push Polls | attempts to push/persuade a person to vote/support issue/candidate. Persuasive! |
| Deliberative Polls | a relatively large scientific sample of Americans (600) were selected for intensive briefings, discussion & presentations about issue clusters including foreign affairs, the family, and the economy. |
| Random Sampling | selected @ random (no bias & everyone has the same chance/likelihood of being selected). |
| Stratified Sampling | Ex: electing every other person |
| Quota Sampling | no randomness! Selecting a certain characteristic and surveying just that group. |
| Margin of Error | the difference b/w a sample's results and the true result if the entire population had been interviewed. |
| Electorate | people eligible to vote (have all the characteristics). |
| Voter | person who votes. |
| To Vote: | 18 yrs old. No felony (conviction). American citizen. Registered to vote. Not be declared mentally incompetent (@ court). Resident of state (depends on which state you reside in). |
| President & Vice President | 35 yrs old. Natural born citizen/ Resident of state for @ least 14 years. |
| Senator | 30 yrs old. Resident of state for @ least 9 yrs. Do not have to be natural born citizens. Establish residence (state representing). |
| Representative | 25 yrs old. Resident of state for @ least 7 yrs. Do not have to be natural born citizens. |
| Retrospective | people base decisions based on what person/party has done for them in the past. |
| Prospective | notion about what person/party will do for them in the future. |
| Primaries | Contests among candidates of the same party. |
| General Election | Contests among candidates of opposing parties. |
| Open Primaries | Register to vote..make a decision to pick candidates when voting. |
| Closed Primaries | Register to vote..and register for a specific party (register w/ a specific political party). |
| Blanket Primaries | Register to vote..but you do not have to stick to a specific party. (more open than open primaries b/c you can mix your choices). Focus on positions rather than party; vote on candidate on "office-to-office" basis. |
| Run-Off Primaries | if one candidate has only 1% or 1.5% votes away from another candidate...candidates will then "run-off" b/w each other/ (positions are too close to call winner fairly). |
| Caucuses | similar to a town-hall meeting..tend to be true for rural areas. Hold primaries in January (cold months); discussion amongst party faithfuls & candidates; Direct Democracy (discussing issues directly). Deliberation of issues of the day. |
| Front Loading | The practice of moving presidential primary elections to the early part of the campaign to maximize the impact of these primaries on the nomination. |
| Super Tuesday | Official election day...smaller states w/ fewer electoral votes hold their primaries this day..very important for smaller states to maximize impact. |
| How do we calculate the number of ELECTORAL VOTES? | # of people in the HOUSE + # of people in the SENATE = # of ELECTORAL VOTES |
| What is the minimum number of electoral votes a state can have? | 3 (2 senators and 1 representative). |
| TX has 34 electoral votes, why? | 2 senators & 32 representatives. |
| Electoral College | indirect system of Democracy. |
| How does the electoral college work? | citizens vote for electors and electors vote for presidency. |
| Election of 1800 | Thomas Jefferson ran against Aaron Burr (same political party). Results were really close (almost a tie). No duel! Jefferson wins. 12th amendment established. |
| 12th Amendment | established separate offices b/w PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT. If election is too close to call, candidate w/ the top 2 votes are elected (decided) by the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. |
| Popular Vote | how the population votes (has nothing to do with determining who wins election). |
| Electoral Vote | IMPORTANT! Determines who wins the election. |
| Majority Representation | TX -- McCain gets majority, then all electoral votes go to that state. |
| Proportional Representation | CO -- Obama has 70% of votes, he does NOT get all 9 electoral votes, he only gets 70% (5)...and the remaining 4 will go to McCain. |
| Plurality | person w/ most votes win. (majority is 51%). (Ex: 1992 election ... Clinton=43%, Dole=40%, Perrel=17% ... Clinton wins even if there is no majority winner! |
| In Primaries... | majority & proportional matters! |
| In General Election... | plurality matters! |
| How do electoral votes work? | (Ex: TEXAS) Technically, there are 64 people ready to vote (34=Republican, 34=Democrats)...if the majority vote is Republican, then the REPUBLICAN electors cast their vote (vice-versa). |
| Presidential Election | every 4 years. |
| Congressional Election | Senate=every 6 years; House=every 2 years. |
| Midterm & Off-Year Elections | good response to see how people in power are doing. |
| Incumbency | person is running for a position that they already have. |
| Incumbency--House of Representatives | 90% chance of winning (re-election). |
| Incumbency--Senate | 60% chance of winning (re-election). |
| Losing a Race: | Scandals, redistricting/Gerrymandering, coat-tail effect. |
| Redistricting | re-drawing district lines..The redrawing of the boundaries of the congressional districts within each state. Happens when the census is taken. |
| Gerrymandering | political part of redistricting..drawing of legislative district boundary lines for the purpose of obtaining partisan/factional advantage. |
| When is gerrymandering complete? | A district is said to be gerrymandered when its shape is manipulated by the dominant party in the state legislature to maximize electoral strength at the expense of the minority party. |
| Coat-Tail Effect | Ex: based on Obama's actions, you'll most likely vote Democrat (sweep more people IN from the same party). Ex: based on Obama's actions, you'll most likely vote Republican (sweep people OUT from the same party). |
| Voter Turnout | The percentage of citizens taking part in the election process; the number of eligible voters that actually “turn out” on election day to cast their ballots. |
| Factors Influencing Who Votes | age, education, income, minority status, 2-party competition, interest in politics. |
| Why People do NOT Vote | uninformative media coverage & negative campaigning; rational ignorance effect; registration requirements (#1 reason); historical restrictions (literacy tests, black codes, etc.) |
| Rational Ignorance | knowledgeable people that choose not to vote b/c they believe that their 1 vote will not count. |
| Motor-Voter (remedying lower voter turnout) | Passed to help voter turn-out. It makes it convenient to register by requiring all states to allow people who apply for a license to also register to vote, whether they conduct business in person or by mail. |
| Voting Through the Mail (remedying lower voter turnout) | literally getting your ballot through the mail, and submitting your vote. |
| Internet Voting (remedying lower voter turnout) | failed miserably in California b/c of fraud. |
| Media's Functions | Entertainment. Reporting the news. Identifying Public Relations. Socializing New Generations. Providing a Political Forum. Making Profits. |
| Media History | Mass-readership newspapers developed. Yellow Journalism. Muckraking. Electromagnetic Signal Age. |
| Yellow Journalism | oversimplified & oversensational headlines. |
| Muckraking | bring news not to oversensationalize, but to bring them to people's attention. Bringing issues to life. |
| News Media Sources | talk shows. politics. internet broadcasting. internet. blogging. podcasting. |
| Coverage of Government | President speaks through PRESS SECRETARY or PRESS CONFERENCES. |
| Press Secretary | Chief Spokesperson of the Executive (president). |
| Coverage of Government | Congress' 535 members pose a challenge. (speakers & majority & minority leaders). |
| Majority Leaders/Whips | Majority Party in the House & the Senate. (as of now=Democrats). |
| Minority Leaders/Whips | Minority Party in the House & the Senate. (as of now=Democrats). |
| Coverage of Government | Supreme Court is more private; coverage is limited. Usually occurs only when there is an APPOINTMENT/CONFIRMATION of new justice, or when there is an IMPORTANT DECISION about legislation. |
| Descriptive | DESCRIBING the facts. |
| Prescriptive | DESCRIBING and ANALYZING the facts. |
| FCC (Federal Communications Commission) | an independent regulatory agency that has far more control over the broadcast media than it does over print (b/c of short supply of air waves). |
| How does the FCC work? | 5 people (no more than 3 can be of the same party). Appointed by President (executive). 5 year terms. |
| T.V. | TV broadcasting -- renew license every 5 years. |
| Radio | Radio broadcasting -- renew license every 7 years. |
| FCC Regulations -- Equal Time Rule | requires broadcast stations to sell campaign time EQUALLY to ALL candidates (but not all candidates buy that/this time). |
| FCC Regulations -- Right of Rebuttal Rule | requires person (candidate) who has been "attacked" on t.v./radio station to have the right to respond on the air. (candidates don't necessarily always use this; most choose to add this time to their agenda). |
| FCC Regulations -- Fairness Doctrine | requires broadcasters to cover info (policies) adequately & present contrast views of all info presented. No longer exists (ended 1989; never renewed). Broadcast Stations said that they were doing it anyway; Journalists argue that is IS needed. |
| Free Press & Free Trial | (defamation, inaccurate sources=libel). |
| Confidentiality (sources) | Branzburg v. Hayes |
| Censorship of the Press | government CANNOT intrude ... unless, they are choosing to leak information that affects NATIONAL SECURITY. |
| First Amendment Issues | Free Press |
| Press & Government | adversaries who need each other; news leaks & "backgrounders" (background of candidates; mostly during general elections); investigative reporting; Freedom of Information Act. |
| Investigative Reporting | understand what is happening in a contextual way.. reminds us of previous events. |
| Freedom of Information Act | makes sure that information is protected so that others won't utilize it.. protects the person whose information it has/is. |
Created by:
kserrano005
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