American Government And Politics Today

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Public Opinion

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The aggregate of individual of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the population.

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Consensus

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General agreement among the citizenry on an issue.

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Divided Opinion

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Public opinion that is polarized between two quite different positions.

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Political Socialization

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The process by which people acquire political beliefs and values.

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Peer Group

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A group consisting of members who share common social characteristics. Such groups play an important part in the socialization process, helping to shape attitudes and beliefs.

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Opinion Leader

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One who is able to influence the opinions of others because of position, expertise, or personality.

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Media

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The channels of mass communication.

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Agenda Setting

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Determining which Public policy questions will be debated or considered.

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Peer Group

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A group consisting of members who share a common social charaterisitcs

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Generational Effect

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A long-lasting effect of events of a particular time on the political opinions of those who came of political age at that time.

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Gender Gap

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The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men who vote for the candidate.

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Opinion Poll

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A method of systematically questioning a small, selected representative of the total population.

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Sampling Error

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The difference between a sample result and the true result if the entire population had been interviewed.

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Tracking Poll

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A poll that is taken continuously-sometimes each day-to determine how support for an issue or candidate changes over time.

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Public Agenda

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Issues that are perceived by the political community as meriting public attention and governmental action.

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Priming

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In a media report, using only certain facts to shape the public's response to an issue.

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Framing

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In a media report, the technique of embedding an issue in particular examples or story lines to after public perceptions of the issue.

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Political Trust

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The degree to which individuals express trust in the government and political institutions, usually measured through a specific series of survey questions.

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House Effect

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In public opinion polling, an effect in which one polling organization's results consistently differ from those reported by other poll takers.

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Sound Bite

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A brief, memorable comment that can easily be fit into news broadcasts.

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Internet Service Provide (ISP)

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A corporation or service that sells access to the internet.

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Net Neutrality

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The principle that an ISP should treat all traffic equally.

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Spin

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An interpretation of political events that is favorable to a candidate or officeholder.

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Spin Doctor

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A political adviser who tries to convince journalists of the truth of a particular interpretation.

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Blog

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A regular updating of one's ideas on a specific web site. The word comes from we log.

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Bias

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An indication or preference that interferes with impartial judgement.

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The aggregate of individual beliefs shared by some portion of adults

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We can best define public opinion as:

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A peer group

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Friends and co-workers who may influence your political attitudes are called:

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the tendency for women to be more likely to vote for a particular candidate than men.

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The gender gap refers to:

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add extra weight to correct for the underrepresented group.

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One way to compensate for underrepresented groups in a polling sample is to:

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a house effect.

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When one polling organization's results consistently differ from those of other poll takers, we call this:

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phrased.

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The same polling question can result in different responses depending on how that question is:

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Fallen since around 2001.

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The trend in political satisfaction in this country has:

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It is the number-one source of information for older voters, who dominate the electorate.

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Television remains a key medium in American politics because:

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advertising revenue.

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A major problem facing newspapers today is that they cannot collect enough online:

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A spin doctor

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A campaign press adviser who tries to convince reporters of a particular interpretation of an event is called a:

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net neutrality.

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The principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally is called: