Chapter 5
Define Public Opinion
The collective attitudes of citizens concerning a given issue or question
When a person only encounters info/opinions that reflect their own
Echo chamber
The set of values and beliefs that a person holds about the purpose and scope of government
Political ideology
Choosing all candidates on the ballot from the same party
Straight ticket
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 do people acquire their political values?
Political socialization (think of the primacy principle and the structuring principle, family, religion, etc.)
Who votes in a referendum?
The electorate (citizens)
The tendency to find evidence to support a preferred conclusion or belief rather than believing what is actually true/accepting new information
Motivated reasoning
An organization that collects campaign contributions from group members and donates them to candidates for political office
Political Action Committee (PAC)
Interest group entrepreneur
An interest group organizer or leader
What principle describes the implication that people choose what benefits them personally?
Self-interest principle
List one way to increase voter turnout
Same day registration
Automatic registration
Compulsory voting (mandatory)
Define electoral realignment
The change in voting patterns that occurs after a critical election
Describe the difference between a closed primary and an open primary
-Primary elections in which voters must declare their party affiliation before they are given the primary ballot containing that party’s potential nominees (closed)
-Primary elections in which voters need not declare a party affiliation and can choose one party’s primary ballot to take into the voting booth (open)
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
The idea that "every individual has a known and equal chance of being sampled" goes with which principle in polling?
Randomness
What form of litigation was used in Brown v Board of Education?
Class action suit
Which system of representation awards legislative seats to parties in proportion to the votes they win?
Proportional representation
Financial misdeeds during Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign led to the creation of what?
-Federal Election Commission (FEC)
-A bipartisan federal agency of six members that oversees the financing of national election campaigns
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
Define "sociotropic responses"
Opinions about how the country as a whole is doing affect political preferences more strongly than one’s own personal circumstance
A preliminary election run by the state gov. in which the voters choose each party’s candidates for the general election
Direct primary
How are political values most likely transferred?
Parents to children
What was the name of Stacey Abrams' initiative to get more people registered to vote?
Fair Fight
What is the most common type of interest group?
Corporations and associations of corporations (also known as trade associations) dominate the interest group universe