Political Science 103

Front 1

Exit Polls

Back 1

Polls conducted as voters leave selected polling places on Election Day.

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Margin of Error

Back 2

A measure of the accuracy of a public opinion poll.

Front 3

Political Socialization

Back 3

The process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and values.

Front 4

Population

Back 4

The entire group of people who's attitudes a researcher wishes to measure

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Public Opinion

Back 5

What the public thinks about a particular issue or set of issues at any point in time

Front 6

Public Opinion Polls

Back 6

Interviews or surveys with samples of citizens that are used to estimate the feelings and beliefs of the enter population

Front 7

Push Polls

Back 7

Polls taken for the purpose of providing information on an opponent that would lead respondents to vote against that candidate

Front 8

Random Sampling

Back 8

A method of poll selection that gives each person in a group the same change of being selected

Front 9

Sample

Back 9

A subset of the whole population selected to be questioned for the purposes of prediction or gauging opinion

Front 10

Stratified Sampling

Back 10

A variation of random sampling; the population is divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographic characteristics of the national population

Front 11

Straw Polls

Back 11

Unscientific survey used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies

Front 12

Tracking Polls

Back 12

Continuous surveys that enable a campaign or news organization to chart a candidate's daily rise or fall in support

Front 13

Critical Election

Back 13

An election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues and personalities

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Dealignment

Back 14

A trend or process whereby a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous partisan affiliation

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Delegate

Back 15

Representative to the party convention

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Party Identification

Back 16

A citizen's personal affinity fort a political party, usually expressed by a tendency to vote for the candidates of that party.

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Plurality

Back 17

The person who receives the most votes.

Front 18

Political Machine

Back 18

A party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over members activity.

Front 19

Political Party

Back 19

An organized group with shared goals and ideals that joins together to run candidates for office and exercise political and electoral power

Front 20

Proportional Representation

Back 20

A voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party.

Front 21

Realignment

Back 21

Dramatic shifts in partisan preferences that drastically alter the political landscape.

Front 22

Winner Take All System

Back 22

An electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election.

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Direct Democracy Procedures

Back 23

Where every decision is voted upon.

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Elector

Back 24

Member of the Electoral College.

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Electoral College

Back 25

Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a president

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Electorate

Back 26

The citizens eligible to vote

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Front Loading

Back 27

The tendency of states to choose an early date on the nomination calendar

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General Election

Back 28

Election in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices.

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Incumbency

Back 29

Already holding an office.

Front 30

Midterm Election

Back 30

An election that takes place in the middle of a presidential term

Front 31

Political Participation

Back 31

Any activity that shapes, affects, or involves the political sphere

Front 32

Primary Election

Back 32

Election in which voters decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election

Front 33

Prospective Judgment

Back 33

A voter's evaluation of a candidate based on what he or she pledges to do about an issue if elected.

Front 34

Reapportionment

Back 34

The reallocation of the number of seats in the House of Representatives after each decennial census

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Retrospective Judgment

Back 35

A voter's evaluation of a candidate based on past performance on a particular issue

Front 36

Ticket Splitting

Back 36

voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election.

Front 37

Turnout

Back 37

The proportion of the voting age public that casts a ballot

Front 38

Voting

Back 38

Cause (someone) to gain or lose a particular post

Front 39

501(c) Group

Back 39

Interest groups whose primary purpose is not electoral politics.

Front 40

527 Political Committee

Back 40

Organizations created with the primary purpose of influencing electoral outcomes; the term is typically applied only to freestanding interest groups that do not explicitly advocate for the election of a candidate.

Front 41

Campaign Orginzation

Back 41

All members of a campaign doing individual jobs to maintain order and efficiency.

Front 42

General Election

Back 42

Election in which voter decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices.

Front 43

GOTV

Back 43

A push at the end of a political campaign to encourage supports to go to the polls.

Front 44

Independent Expenditures

Back 44

Spending for campaign activity that is not coordinated with a candidate's campaign.

Front 45

Nomination

Back 45

The action of nominating or state of being nominated

Front 46

PAC

Back 46

Officially recognized fund raising orgainzation that represent interest groups and are allowed by federal law to make contributions directly to candidates' campaigns.

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Public Funds

Back 47

Donations from general tax revenues to the campaigns of qualifying presidential candidates.

Front 48

Super PAC's

Back 48

Political action committees established to make independent expenditures.

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Agenda Setting

Back 49

The process of forming the list of issues to be addressed by government

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Background

Back 50

On background- information provided to a journalist that will not be attributed to a named source

Deep background- Information provided to a journalist that will not be attributed to any source.

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Broadcasting

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Transmit (a program or some information) by radio or television.

Front 52

Citizen Journalists

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Ordinary individuals who collect, report, and analyze news content.

Front 53

Content Regulations

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Limitations on the substance of the mass media

Front 54

Equal Time Rule

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The rule that requires broadcast stations to sell air time equally to all candidates in a political campaign if they choose to sell it to any

Front 55

Framing

Back 55

The process by which a news organization defines a political issue and consequently affects opinion about the issue.

Front 56

Media

Back 56

Print, Radio, TV, Internet

Front 57

Media Effects

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The influence of news sources on public opinion.

Front 58

Narrowcasting

Back 58

Targeting media programming at specific populations within society.

Front 59

Press - Public Figures Interation

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Press release- A document offering an official comment or position.

Press briefing- A relatively restricted session between a press secretary or aid and the press.

Press conference- An unrestricted session between an elected official and the press.

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Record

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Information provided to a journalist.

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Civic Virtue

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The tendency to form small scale associations for the public good

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Collective Good

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Something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group, for example, a tax write off or a batter environment.

Front 63

Disturbance Theory

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The theory that interest groups form as a result of changes in the political system.

Front 64

Economic Interest

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A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interests of its members.

Front 65

Elite Theory

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The few have it all, the 1% have all the power.

Front 66

Free Rider Problem

Back 66

Potential members fail to join a group because they can get the benefit, or collective good, sought by the group without contributing the effort.

Front 67

Interest Group

Back 67

A collection of people or organizations that tries to influence public policy.

Front 68

Lobbying

Back 68

The activities of a group or organization that seek to persuade political leaders to support the group's position.

Front 69

Lobbyist

Back 69

Interest group representative who seeks to influence legislation that will benefit his or her organization or client through political and or financial persuasion.

Front 70

Pluralist Theory

Back 70

The theory that political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups.

Front 71

Public Interest

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An organization that seeks a collective good that will not selectively and materially benefit group members.

Front 72

Transactions Theory

Back 72

The theory that public policies are the result of narrowly defined exchanges or transactions among political actors.