Chapter 10
What is the free rider problem?
The situation in which people benefit from the activities of an organization (such as an interest group) but do not contribute to those activities
How is a winner chosen in a majority representation system?
The single candidate who collects the most votes
When a person only encounters info/opinions that reflect their own
Echo chamber
Define public opinion
The collective attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question
List 1 form of conventional participation
List 1 form of unconventional participation
Conventional: voting
Unconventional: sit-ins
Interest group entrepreneur
An interest group organizer or leader
Define electoral realignment
The change in voting patterns that occurs after a critical election
What is soft news? Please provide one example
Soft news is defined as information that is primarily entertaining or personally useful
Examples: The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, Today, The View, etc.
How do people acquire their political values?
Political socialization/parents to children
Compare and contrast open primary with closed primary
A preliminary election conducted within a political party to select candidates who will run for public office in a subsequent election.
Open: Voters need not declare a party affiliation and can choose one party’s primary ballot to take into the voting booth.
Closed: Voters must declare their party affiliation before they are given the primary ballot containing that party’s potential nominees.
***Modified Open: Entitle independent voters to vote in a party’s primary
***Modified Closed: Allows individual state parties to decide whether they permit independents to vote in their primaries and, if so, for which offices
When a government program is not operating as it should, concerned interest groups push administrators to change it in ways that promote the groups’ goals. What is this called?
Program monitoring
What is true about independents?
They lean towards Democrat or Republican
Who is the media typically biased against?
Incumbents
What could bias the results of a public opinion poll? List 2 things
Not random sampling (everyone has known and equal chance of being chosen), wording problems, etc.
What is the role of the Federal Election Committee (FEC)?
Monitoring campaign finance laws and regulations
Example: Labor unions have historically played a critical role in gaining attention for problems that were systematically ignored including minimum wage and maximum hour requirements.
Question: Through their advocacy, interest groups make the government aware of problems and then try to see to it that something is done to solve them. What is this called?
Agenda building
What are 2 of the 4 principles of responsible party government
1. Parties should present clear and coherent programs to voters.
2. Voters should choose candidates on the basis of party programs.
3. The winning party should carry out its program once in office.
4. Voters should hold the governing party responsible at the next election for executing its program.
What is the difference between horse race journalism and watchdog journalism
Horse race- Political journalism of elections that resembles coverage of horse races because of the focus on polling data and public perception instead of candidate policy (focused on who will win the election)
Watchdog- When journalists think it their job to be critical of politicians so they look for weaknesses in their argument and fact check them
What is the difference between symbolic and operational ideology
Symbolic- The ideological label that people use to describe themselves
Operational- The ideological label that appropriately describes one's policy positions
What are two things that can increase voter turnout? (think about what other countries do that the US does not)
Automatic registration, compulsory voting, same-day registration, etc.
What type of interest group is most represented?
Business
According to Seth Masket's analysis in "Who Fled the Center?", which statement best reflects the ideological shifts of the major political parties over recent decades?
Republicans have shifted notably to the right, whereas Democrats have maintained a relatively stable ideological position.
In the article, Masket discusses how, based on analyses, the Republican Party has experienced a significant rightward shift since the early 1980s. In contrast, the Democratic Party has seen less dramatic ideological movement, with much of its change attributed to the departure of conservative Southern Democrats rather than a broad shift to the left.
Claims of ideological bias among the media may be overblown
What did the research conclude about the media’s response to political candidates from different ideologies?
The research found no evidence of gatekeeping bias, meaning most stories were covered regardless of their ideological angle.
Journalists were equally likely to respond to conservatives & liberals
Define sociotropic responses
Opinions about how the country as a whole is doing affect political preferences more strongly than one’s own personal circumstance
What is a first-past-the-post election? List one pro and one con of this type of election
A British term for elections conducted in single-member districts that award victory to the candidate with the most votes. (Example)
Pros: simplicity, close relationship with constituents, one strong party, etc.
Cons: minority of the vote, discourages voting, etc.