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Political Beliefs/B.
American Government
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Attentive Public | Those who follow politics and public affairs carefully. |
Australian Ballot | Secret Ballot printed at the expense of the state. |
Balancing the Ticket | Occurs when a Presidential nominee chooses a Vice Presidential running mate who has different qualities in order to attract more votes for the ticket. |
Blanket Primary | Election to choose candidates that are open to independents, and that allows voters to choose candidates from all the parties. |
Caucus | Local party meeting. |
Closed Primary | Party election to choose candidates that are closed to independents. Voters may not cross party lines. |
Coattail Effect | The influence of a popular presidential candidate on the election of congressional candidates of the same party. |
Demographics | Characteristics of populations. (e.g., race, sex, income) |
Direct Elections | Election of an official directly by the people rather than by an intermediary group such as the Electoral College. |
Direct Primary | Election in which the people choose candidates for office. |
Fixed Terms | Terms of office that have a definite length of time. (e.g., two years for a member of the House) |
Front Loading | Scheduling Presidential primary elections early (e.g., February or March) in an election year. |
Gender Gap | Difference in voting patterns for men and women, particularly in the greater tendency of the latter to vote for Democratic presidential candidates. |
General Election | Election in which the officeholders are chosen. Contrast with a primary election, in which only the candidates are chose. |
Hard Money | Campaign contributions donated directly to candidates. |
Ideology | Set of beliefs abut political values and the role of government. |
Incumbent | An officeholder who is seeking reelection. |
Independent | One is not registered with a political party. |
Independent Learners | Tend to vote for candidates of one particular party. |
Pure Independents | Have no consistent pattern of party voting. |
Issue Advocacy Ads | Ads that focus on issues and do not explicitly encourage citizens to vote for a certain candidate. |
Open Primary | Election to choose candidates that are open to independents, and in which voters may choose candidates from any one party. |
Party Identification | A sense of affiliation that a person has with a particular party. |
Party Platform | A list of positions and programs that the party adopts at the national convention. Each position is called a plank. |
Political Culture | The widely shared beliefs, values and norms that citizens share about their government. |
Plurality | To have more votes than anyone else, but less than half. (e.g., Clinton won a plurality of 43% popular votes in 1992, but not a majority) |
Plurality Elections | Are won by the person with the most votes, regardless if he/she has a majority, such as those for Congress. |
Political Efficacy | Capactiy to understand and influence political events. |
Political Socialization | Process in which one acquires his/her political events. |
Realigning ("critical") Election | An election in which there is long term change in party alignment. (e.g., 1932) |
Safe Seat | An office that is extremly likely to be won by a particular candidate or political party |
Single Member District System | System in which the people elct one representative per district. With a winner-take-all rule, this system strengthens the two major parties and weakens minor parties. |
Soft Money | Campaign contributions that are not donated directly to candidates, but are instead donated to parties. |
Solid South | Historically, the South votes solidly Democratic. However, the South is now strongly Republican: Bush carried every Southern state in 2000. |
Split Ticket Voting | Casting votes for candidates of one's own party and for candidates of opposing parties. (e.g., voting for a Republican Presidential candidate and a Democratic congressional candidate) |
Straight Ticket Voting | Casting votes only for candidates of one's party. |
Suffrage | The right to vote |
Superdelegate | A delegate to the Democratic national convention who is there by virtue of holding an office |
Super Tuesday | A Tuesday in early March in which many presidential primaries, particularly in the South, are held |
Swing State | A state that does not consistently vote either Democratic or Republican in presidential elections. |