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65 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Public opinion
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collected attitudes of citizens on a given issue or question
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Who is most interested in Public Opinion?
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Elected officials
Academics The people |
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Why is public opinion important
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because in a democracy, there must be some links b/w what the public thinks and what the govt does
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What does public opinion originate from
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Political socialization - individuals become aware of politics and learn politics
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How do we learn politics?
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Mostly because it occurs throughout our lives
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Generational effects
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specific age groups uniquely affected by set of historical events
i.e. vietnam; great depression; holocaust |
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Life cycle effects
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political views are influenced by maturity
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Period effects
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historical events that affect everyone
i.e. end of cold ware cause everyone wanted to spend less in defense |
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Agents of socialization
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family (religious views)
community and peers (peer pre education (how to be citizen) |
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How do we know if our behavior is based off of nature of nurture
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We used to guess but now done by polling
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statistical theory of sampling
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a sample of individuals selected by chance from any population is representative of that population
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Accuracy of poll is determined by...
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the way the sample is selected (is it completely random?)
size of the sample |
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Factors regarding how the survey is structured
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-question wording
-leading questions - social desirability - question clarity - double-barreled questions - questions requiring knowledge the person doesn't have |
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How do polls affect opinion?
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people --> bandwagon and underdog effects
candidates/politicians --> send survey asking your response. it includes the way they themselves would answer media coverage --> cover politics at a sporting event election results--> turnout tends to be higher in a closer race |
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Class survey results
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Students --> More republican and conservative
Parents --> more party extreme than kids Political socialization --> strong parent/student correlation (esp w/ moms) |
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How do candidates and politicians use media?
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Image building
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Controlled media
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candidates control the content of a message
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Advertisements
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1st ads ran in 1952
Eisenhower's series - "Eisenhower answers America ---very short (20 sec) |
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Types of Ads
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Positive (acclaim) - self praise
---- "I will improve education" Negative (attack) - criticism of opponent ----- "My opp. will give tax cuts to the rich" Defense - response to attacks ----- "The accusation that I will raise taxes is false" |
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Percentage of topics covered in ads
Percentage of pos, neg, defense ads |
Policy - 61%
Character - 39% ------------------------------ Positive - 60% Negative - 39% Defense - 1%d |
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Congress issued the ________________ to limit attack ads.
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Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1992
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Problem with negative ads. Is there one?
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-misleading and lack informational content
- cause people to refrain from voting - divert attention from substantive issues - give us less confidence in political leaders - lead to trust in the government |
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Characteristics of defense ads of negative ads
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- More likely than positive ads to be about issues and be specific about them
- more likely to contain facts (but are they true facts?) - more likely to be about the important issues of the day |
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Why do candidates attack?
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Out of fear --> more attacks in a close race
Because they work --> tend to be remembered better |
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Uncontrolled Media
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- Debates
- News coverage |
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First debate in the presidential general election was in ___ with _____ vs. ______
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1960
Nixon vs Kennedy |
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Characteristics of media coverage of politics
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-Horse-race coverage
-Issueless -Pack journalism -Style over substance -Anything is newsworthy mentality -Negative |
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Interest group
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any organization that seems to influence public policy
(Private organization or voluntary association that seeks to influence public policy as a way to protect or advance some interest) |
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occupational group
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group that revolves around an occupation (professional associations)
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non-occupational group
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everything else (citizen, abortions). tend to work for collective
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Why do people join groups?
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collective benefits
& selective benefits |
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Collective benefits
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benefits that accrue to everyone regardless of whether they are group members or not
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Selective benefits
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benefits that go only to group members
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Free-rider problem
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People who receive the benefits the group has won without paying any of the costs (time or money)
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What type of things do groups give to elected officials to influence public policy?
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- Information
-Public support - Money and PACs - Absence of trouble |
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Pros and Cons of interest group politics
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Pros:
-Representation -Participation -Education -Agenda building (help items get on the agenda) -Program monitoring (Congress=congressional overside) Cons: - Not all represented equally -----interest w/ money behind them tend to get better rep in a pluralist society -Groups tend to serve their own narrow interests rather than the interests of the general public |
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Politicians who take interest group money and then vote the way the groups want on issues of importance to them are accused of being __________
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"captives of special interest"
Con of interest group politics |
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Inside game
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older
involves direct, personal contact between interest group reps and govt officials |
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Outside game
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involves interest group mobilization of public opinion, voters, and impt contributors to bring pressure to bear on elected officials
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Political party (definition)
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an organization that sponsors candidates for public office under the organization's name
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3 diff meanings of the term political party
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-Party in the electorate (things that cause us to choose democrat or republican)
-Party organization (republican and democrat national committees) (Nat.,st. and local) -Party in the govt |
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What do parties do?
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Nominate candidates for office (let people choose or let party officials choose)
Structure the voting choice in elections (not everyone sees as good; limits choices) Propose alternative government programs (true these days? How to tell?) -------Vote cast in Congress on issues -------Party platform→ set of beliefs on party, comes out when they get a new candidate for President -------Interest group support Coordinate the actions of government officials (makes it easier to work with President) Link people together and link people to the institutions of government |
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Party systems
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one, two, or multi-party systems
-we are generally two |
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History of 3rd party voting in the
U.S. |
- Third party voting is quite common in the United States, but not always. - Sometimes third parties do quite well, and other times they get next to nothing.
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why does the u.s.have a two party system?
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- historical foundation (loyalty to two main parties)
- winner-take-all - state and federal laws (loyalty to political system) |
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single-member districts
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elect only one candidate (one with most votes)
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structural barriers
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two major parties discriminate against third parties (ballot access and money)
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Political participation
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conventional
unconventional |
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conventional political participation
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relatively routine, non-threatening behavior that uses channels of representative government
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unconventional political participation
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relatively uncommon behavior that challenges or defies government channels
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T/F
Voting is one of the most common and most studied forms of participation |
True
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U.S. record of enfranchisement
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- Initially, most states had taxpaying or property holding requirements for voting (These were eliminated by the 1850s)
- Enfranchisement of blacks (15th Amendment) - Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Enfranchisement of women (19th Amendment) - Enfranchisement of 18 year olds (26th amendment) |
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Why did government grant the right to vote to certain groups at those times?
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- to suppress disorder, get them off the streets (blacks and 18 year olds in the 1960s)
- to acquire consent or popular support for government programs (women in WWI) |
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What are the 2 elections that must be won to hold office
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Nomination and Presidential General Elections
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Nomination
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goal is to win a majority of the delegates available in primaries and caucuses to become your party's nominee
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Primaries
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actual elections
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Caucuses
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meetings of interested party members
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Conventions
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where the nominee is actually chosen
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Presidential General Elections
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goal is to win the majority of the electoral votes
if you win majority of electoral votes of a state, then you win that state winner take all |
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How are the electors per state chosen?
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Number of electors = number of senators and representatives each state has
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How many electoral votes does each state get?
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Dependent on amt of people in the state and how the state has voted in recent years
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Features of the Electoral college
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1. Exaggerates the margin of victory; could win 50.1% of the popular vote but barely win every state’s electoral vote and wins the whole election; need 270 votes to win
2. Can lead to the defeat of the candidate with the most votes 3. Benefits the two major parties and hurts minor parties |
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Why do so few people vote in the U.S?
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- Only citizens who take initiative to register in advance are permitted
- too much complexity on ballots (voters are overwhelmed) - weak vote mobilization by the parties - decline in competitive elections |
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What class of people generally votes?
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- High to average income
- educated - race is equal - older |
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Political ideology - how do you tell if you are a liberal, conservative
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