Ap Gov. Unit 2 Test

Front 1

attentive public

Back 1

those who follow politics and public affairs carefully

Front 2

australian ballot

Back 2

ballot that is county printed, uniform, and secret

Front 3

balancing the ticket

Back 3

when a presidential nominee selects a vice president who "balances them out"

Front 4

blanket primary

Back 4

everybody was on one ballot and you would vote for your candidate and the top vote earners in each party move on to the general elections

Front 5

caucus

Back 5

a system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen mostly rural states in which voters must show up at a set time and attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference; Iowa has the first

Front 6

closed primary

Back 6

where only people can vote for the candidate representing the party are registered for

Front 7

coattail effect

Back 7

when a political leader attracts votes for other candidates of the same party; kind of the domino effect

Front 8

demographics

Back 8

the science of population changes

Front 9

direct election

Back 9

in one of these, the candidate would try to rack

Front 10

direct primary

Back 10

election in which the people, by direct vote, choose candidates for office

Front 11

fixed terms

Back 11

terms of office that have a definite length of time

senate - 6

house - 2

president - 4

jury - lifetime

Front 12

gender gap

Back 12

the regular pattern in which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support sending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

Front 13

general election

Back 13

election in which the officeholders are chosen; contrast with a primary election, in which only the candidates are chosen

Front 14

hard money

Back 14

campaign contributions donated directly to candidates

Front 15

ideology

Back 15

a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

Front 16

incumbent

Back 16

an officeholder who is seeking reelection

Front 17

independent

Back 17

one is not registered with a political party

Front 18

issue advocacy ads

Back 18

ads that focus on issues and do not explicitly encourage citizens to vote for a certain candidate

Front 19

open primary

Back 19

election to choose candidates that is open to independents, and in which voters may choose candidates from any one party

Front 20

party identification

Back 20

a sense of affiliation that a person has with a particular political party

Front 21

party platform

Back 21

a political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years; drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength; it is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs

Front 22

political culture

Back 22

an overall set of values widely shared within a society

Front 23

plurality

Back 23

more votes than anyone else, but less than half

Front 24

political efficacy

Back 24

the belief that one's political participation really matters - that one's vote can actually make a difference

Front 25

political socialization

Back 25

the process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others

Front 26

realigning (critical) election

Back 26

an election in which there is a long-term change in party alignment

Front 27

safe seat

Back 27

an office that is extremely likely to be won by a particular candidate or political party

Front 28

single member district system

Back 28

system in which the people elect one representative per district; with a winner-take-all rule, this system strengthens the two major parties and weakens minor parties

Front 29

soft money

Back 29

political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grass-roots level or for generic party advertising; unlike money that goes to the campaign of a particular candidate, such party donations are not subject to contribution limits; for a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act

Front 30

solid south

Back 30

historically, the south voted solidly Democratic

Front 31

split ticketing voting

Back 31

casting votes for candidates of one's own party and for candidates of opposing parties

Front 32

straight ticket voting

Back 32

casting votes only for one's own party

Front 33

superdelegate

Back 33

national party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the national party convention

Front 34

super tuesday

Back 34

a Tuesday in early March in which many presidential primaries, particularly in the South, are held

Front 35

swing state

Back 35

a state that does not consistently vote either Democratic or Republican in presidential elections

Front 36

suffrage

Back 36

the right to vote

Front 37

front loading

Back 37

recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention; Iowa and New Hampshire

Front 38

buckley v. valeo (1976)

Back 38

challenged the constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act; Supreme Court struck down part of act that limited the amount that individuals could contribute to their own campaigns on account of free speech

Front 39

shaw v. reno (1993)

Back 39

the case where the Supreme Court eliminated the creation of districts based solely on racial compositions, as well as the district drawers' abandonment of traditional redistricting standards such as compactness and contiguity; court gave legal standing to challenges to any congressional map with an oddly shaped minority-majority district that may not be defensible of grounds other than race

Front 40

bush v. gore (2000)

Back 40

supreme court was split but eventually voted that Florida's manual recount of the votes was unconstitutional; the case that allowed Bush to win the presidential election of the time

Front 41

CA democratic party v. jones (2000)

Back 41

Supreme Court held that CA's blanket primary violates first amendment, freedom of association

Front 42

citizens united v. federal election commission (2010)

Back 42

Supreme Court ruled that this rule (corporations and unions can't use their general treasury funds to pay for electioneering communications in the last 60 days of federal campaigns) restricted free speech and therefore was unconstitutional

Front 43

voting rights act of 1965

Back 43

tried to eliminate barriers to African American voting in the South; hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically; banned denial of voting based on race or color, abolished literacy tests

Front 44

national voter registration bill ("motor voter act") 1993

Back 44

required states to allow eligible voters to register by simply checking a box on their driver's license application or renewal form; has increased voter turnout

Front 45

mccain-feingold bill (bipartisan campaign finance reform act) 2002

Back 45

main point was to ban soft money contributions; also prohibited corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to pay for electioneering communications in the last 60 days of federal campaigns, which was overruled with CU v. FE in 2010

Front 46

12th Amendment (1804)

Back 46

electors vote separately for the president and vice president; if nobody gets a majority of the votes then the house of representative chooses the president and the senate chooses the vice president

Front 47

which states don't use a winner takes all system

Back 47

maine and nebraska

Front 48

15th Amendment

Back 48

stopped banning of voting privileges according to race

Front 49

19th Amendment (1919)

Back 49

women can vote

Front 50

26th Amendment (1971)

Back 50

voting age lowered to 18

Front 51

what does cracking mean

Back 51

taking a population and dividing it up so that the opposite party never has the majority in any of the districts

Front 52

what does gerrymandering mean

Back 52

organizing the districts to make them advantageous for the democratic party

Front 53

what does packing mean

Back 53

when you allow the opposite party to have 1 guaranteed seat, and then there are 3 guaranteed seats for the other party

Front 54

what is a warchest

Back 54

when your campaign money rolls over from your last election to your next; you start with tons of money and then fund raise on top of it

Front 55

incumbents can send ____ for free

Back 55

direct mail

Front 56

what is a deviating election

Back 56

a type of election where people cross party lines in order to vote for someone, but go back to their original party when the election if over (happened with reagan)

Front 57

what did the federal election campaign acts due (1971-1974)

Back 57

campaign donations had to be disclosed, limitations, unions and corps can't give direct contributions, PACs are limited to $5000 per candidate per election

Front 58

how much can an individual give per candidate per election

Back 58

$1000, meaning $2000 if you do primary and general elections