Campaign & Parties
The term for an elected official who currently holds office and is running for re-election.
What is an incumbent?
The process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and ideology over time based on life experiences.
What is political socialization?
A formally organized non-profit created specifically to influence government decision-making.
What is an interest group?
Original reporting and fact-gathering conducted directly by journalists.
What is news-gathering?
The fundamental definition of public policy is anything the government decides to do or decides not to do when addressing these
What are public problems?
To run in the general election, a candidate must first win this type of election.
What is a primary election?
In polling, this statistical measure accounts for potential error in the survey results.
What is the margin of error?
The practice of an outsider with specialized expertise and relationships trying to influence decision-makers inside government
What is lobbying?
Taking content gathered by journalists and packaging or organizing it to fit specific channels or outlets
What is news aggregation?
The first step in the 5-step policy-making process.
What is problem identification?
The magic number of Electoral College votes needed to win the U.S. Presidency.
What is 270?
One's fundamental belief about what the government should or should not do in society
What is political ideology
The American Bar Association, which handles licensing, exams, and professional development, is an example of this type of interest group.
What is a professional association?
Media content that focuses on providing broader context, perspective, and connecting events to a bigger picture.
What is analysis?
The evaluation criterion that measures whether a policy achieves its intended goal
What is effectiveness?
Minor political parties in the United States operating alongside the two major parties are broadly called this.
What are third parties?
What are family/parents, religion, socioeconomic status (or age, region/residence, legal status)?
This type of group focuses primarily on negotiating contracts through collective bargaining.
What is a labor union?
The media practices of segmenting content to target smaller, specific niche audiences rather than the general public.
What is narrowcasting?
The five steps of the policy-making process in chronological order.
What are problem identification, policy formulation, policy approval, policy implementation, and policy evaluation
These three specific factors explain why the U.S. is a two-party dominant system.
What are single-member district systems (winner-take-all), a homogeneous society with flexible parties, and state laws?
Generally favoring lower taxes, a smaller role for government in solving public problems, and more individual responsibility describes this major ideology.
What is conservative (or conservatism)?
The four distinct types of interest groups.
What are issue advocacy groups, trade associations, professional associations, and labor unions?
Editorials, guest essays, and letters to the editor belong to this section of a media outlet because they express judgment and personal viewpoints
What is an opinion?
The four standard criteria used to evaluate a public policy.
What are effectiveness, efficiency, equity (equitable), and responsiveness