Political Science Final Exam

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Public Opinion

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an aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of adults

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Push Polls

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designed to manipulate the opinion of those being polled

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Tracking Polls

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seek to gauge changes of opinion of the same sample size over a period of time, common during the closing months of presidential elections

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Exit Polls

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survey a sample of voters immediately after exiting the voting booth to predict the outcome of the election before the ballots are officially counted

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Samples and Populations

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a representative slice of the total population, accompanied by a margin of error due to random selection

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What can alter the results of a poll?

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The wording of the question, how opinionated the person answering is

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Non-attitudes

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Sources of error in public opinion polls in which individuals feel obliged to give opinions when they are unaware of the issue or have no opinion about it

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Social Desirability

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People may respond to interview questions in a way they believe is socially acceptable, rather than being completely truthful

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Generational/cohort Effect

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Tend to have similar beliefs and opinions

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Political efficacy

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amount of impact citizens feel they have on the government

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Trust in government

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congress typically has the least, followed by the president, who is followed by the judicial

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Political knowledge

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Most people don't know much and the people who do tend to be rich and educated

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Polarization

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most people are not very polarized...radical few are

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Presidential approval

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spikes and drops in a pretty typical pattern

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Socialization

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impact and influence of one's social environment on the views and attitudes one carries in life, a primary source of political attitudes

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Partisanship

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political party identification; psychological attachment to a political party

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Ideology

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set of coherent beliefs that offers a philosophy for thinking about the scope of government

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Online processing

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citizens don't remember facts but do remember feelings

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What does the media tend to focus on?

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Front runners and dark horses

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Front runner

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Person in the lead

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Dark Horse

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one who achieves unexpected support

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Functions of the Media

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informing, investigating, interpretation, socialization, and profit-making

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Party Press

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press dependent on political parties (the first era of media)

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Penny Press

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Newspapers sold for a penny, initiating an era in which the press began to rely on circulation and advertising for income and not on political parties. arose because of advantages in technology, audience increased in size and literacy, focus on sensational news and easy issues (the second era of media)

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Yellow Journalism

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intended to capture attention and increase circulation

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Modern Press

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The third era of media

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Media Ownership

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Independents and conglomerates

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Conglomerates

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Cross-media ownership, fewer outlets for diverse viewpoints

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Prior Restraint

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judicial suppression of media

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Near v. Minnesota

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established prior restraint to be unconstitutional

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New York Times v US

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established prior restraint is okay when it involves national security

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New York Times v Sullivan

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established prior restraint is okay when it's libel (requires malice)

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Miller v California

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established prior restraint is okay when it's obscene

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Gag orders

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a case may not be discussed in public

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Libel

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publishing false and damaging statements about another person

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Selective Exposure

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people seek out information that is personally relevant and attractive; people want to avoid cognitive dissonance

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Obtrusive Issues

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issues with low threshold, generally affect most people, almost compel attention from political elites

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Unobtrusive issues

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issues with high threshold, most people do not directly experience, therefore the media has a greater influence on how the public feels about that issue based on what they publish

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Agenda Setting

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ability of the news media to influence the salience (importance) of topics on the public agenda

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Priming

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the media influences how the public views politicians by emphasizing certain criteria over the other

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Framing

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the media influences public perception of political issues by emphasizing certain criteria over the other

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Episodic Framing

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event-oriented reports and depicts public issues in terms of concrete instances; give littler or no context about underlying issues or context

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Thematic Framing

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Places issues in a broader or more general context

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Bias in the media

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Most journalists are male, white, educated, and liberal

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Selective editing

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Choosing what to publish based on personal opinions to influence public opinion

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Funnel of voting

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all the things that influence the way someone votes; chain of events that contributes to the vote

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Voting age population

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only 60% vote in presidential elections and only 40% in midterm elections

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Economic model of voting

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cost/benefit analysis

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Psychological model of voting

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Partisanship, efficacy

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Institutional model of voting

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rules of the system, behavior of the parties, campaigns, context of election

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Primaries

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voters select candidates who will run on the party label in the general election

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Closed Primary

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only declared party members can vote

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Open Primary

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any qualified voter can vote

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Hybrid Primary

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Open and closed; some allow party crossovers, some allow the change of party affiliation on election day, independents may be able to vote, etc.

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Caucuses

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meeting of party members to select a presidential nominee

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Frontloading

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the scheduling of primaries earlier in the season in order to increase influence

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Electoral College

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Electors are based on the number of representatives and senators for each state, 538 total, 270 or more to win. used to be chosen by state legislatures, now chosen by popular election

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Winner-take all system

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Majority vote within a state= winner takes all of the appointed electoral votes for that state. every state by nebraska and maine.

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Battleground States

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swing states; states where popular vote is usually very close and the outcome is up for grabs

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Faithless electors

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electors who don't vote for the candidates they promised to vote for

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Drawbacks to electoral college

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Candidates can win popular vote but lose election, causes campaigns to focus on a handful of states, favors smaller states, electors are not bound to be faithful in every state.

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Electoral College Tie

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in case of a tie, reps chose president and senate choose vice president

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Permanent campaign

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focus on winning next election rather than on governing

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Fundraising

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in modern congressional campaigns, the person who raises and spends the most is the winner

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Coattails

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President's positive party image influenes voters to choose other people from the same party, only in primary and never in midterm

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Brand name incumbency

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people are more likely to vote for someone they know and have heard about frequently

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Fenno's paradox

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people dislike and complain about congress but 80-90% get reelected. people disconnect with the representative and what they perceive other reps to be like.

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Collective action problems

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self-interest, free-riders

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Incentives to overcome collective action problems

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material (free stuff), solidary (getting to join and be a part of a group), expressive (getting to call oneself a part of a group and express and share the ideas of the group)

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Two dimensional view of ideology

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Republican vs. Democrat

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Checks and Balances

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each branch has power over the others but is also subject to the powers of the opposite branches

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executive checks and balances

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proposes and vetoes legislation, appoints judges, pardons federal crimes

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legislative checks and balances

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can override veto (with 2/3 vote), impeach executive and judicial, approves the appointments of judges, establish courts

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judicial checks and balances

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determines legality of executive actions, can declare "unconstitutional"

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article one

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legislative

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article two

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executive

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article three

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judicial

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article four

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the states

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full faith and credit clause

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each state has to accept and respect public acts, recors, and judicial proceedings of each other

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privileges and immunities clause

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states cannot discriminate against citizens of other states

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guarantee clause

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every state gets a republican form of government and protection from foreign invasion

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article five

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the amendment process (2/3 of either house can propose, 2/3 of state legislatures can propose, conventions of 3/4ths the states can propose)

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enumerated powers of national govt

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granted to congress by the constitution. raising armies, declaring war, establishing rules for citizenship, power to tax, to borrow money, to regulate interstate and foreign commerce (commerce clause- gibbons v odgen)

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necessary and proper clause

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power to make laws that are necessary and proper and are not included in the enumerated powers. implied powers (mcculloch v maryland)

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supremacy clause

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the national govt is supreme over the state govt

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concurrent powers

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shared by the state and federal

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congress's prohibited powers

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deny habeas corpus, ex-post facto laws, direct tax, tax exports, grant title of nobility

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state's prohibited powers

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treaties and coinage, tax imports and exports, duties, armed forces and war

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civil liberties

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protections from the government

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civil rights

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protections by the government

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first amendment

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speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition

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14th amendment

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everyone born in the us is a citizen

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barron v baltimore

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constitution does not directly apply to states, must be incorporated

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13th amendment

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abolished slavery

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15th amendment

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gave black men the right to vote

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parties

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broad coalitions of interests organized to win elections in order to enact a commonly supported set of public policies

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interest groups

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people who share a common interest and try to influence public policy to benefi themselves

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buckley v valeo (1976)

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individual contributions may be capped, but not expenditures (personal expenses that go towards own campaign). campaign finance laws can only regulate groups that "expressly advocate" for candidates

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citizens united v fec (2010)

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cannot regulate spending by corporations and/or unions. prohibits govt from restricting political independent expenditures by corporations, associations, or labor unions. based on first amendment rights.

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how a bill becomes a law

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introduced in house or senate, referred to committee and sub-committees, bill undergoes markup, bill is reported to chamber for debate and eventually roll call vote, sent to other chamber for approval (conference committee), sent to president for signature or veto

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standing committee

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20 in house, 16 in senate. basically permanent

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select committee

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temporary

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joint committees

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house and senate combined

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conference committees

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reconcile bills that have been passed as different versions in the two chambers

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reapportionment

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redistribution of representation, switches around the number of seats each state has in congress according to changes in the census

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redistricting

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in response to the census, changes district boundaries to ensure district populations are equal in size

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gerrymandering

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district boundaries are drawn to confer an electoral advantage on one group over another

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house of representatives

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bills that raise revenue must originate here (origination clause). accusations involving impeachments happen here, no filibuster, leaders in order (speaker of the house, majority leader, minority leader), 25 years old, 7 years of citizenship, must live in state elected. serve two year terms, directly elected by the people

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senate

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advise and consent to president, approve treates and removes from office, has filibuster ended with cloture, leaders in order (vp, pres pro temp, maj leader, min leader), 30 years old, 9 years of citizenship, live in state elected. 6 year terms. directly elected by people after 17th amdt

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president qualifications

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35 years of age, natural born citizen, must be a resident of the us for at least 14 years

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president term limitations

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initially no limits, changed by 22nd amdt, only allowed two four-year terms

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signing statements

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written comment issued at the time of signing legislation

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executive orders

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order to execute law. internment of japs and germans in ww2. eisenhwer desegregating little rock hs.

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executive privilege

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keep documents a secret
us v nixon and clinton v jones

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vetoes

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allow to self-execute in 10 days (congress in session, no override), veto, or pocket-veto (congress out of session, no override)

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court structure

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deemed by the legislature, dual system, state and federal courts, supreme, district/trial, appellate

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district/trial courts

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jurisdiction to hear nearly all categories of federal cases; civil and criminal. original jurisdiction

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judicial review

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determine whether constitutional or not. marbury v madison established.

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unanimous and majority opinions

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everyone agrees

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dissenting opinion

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opinion that disagrees with the majority opnion

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concurring opinion

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opinion that agrees with the majority opinion but had a different rationale

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per curium decisions

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opinion issued in name of the court rather than a specific judge; reflects opinion of the court

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strict constructionist

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strict interpretation of the constitution

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broad constructionist

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flexible interpretation of the constitution