Exam 2 Review!

·         Interest Group: a collection of like-minded individuals or groups that pool resources in an effort to affect government policy.

·         Selective incentives: benefits you only get by participating in interest groups

·         Safe seat: one in which the political party currently holding the seat is very likely to continue to hold that seat during an election.

·         Open seat: Open seats are congressional seats that do not have an incumbent running for reelection.

·         Direct primary: elections where voters go to the polls.

·         Caucus: small community meetings that have discussions before choosing a candidate

·         Single Member districts: a country is divided up into political districts from which we choose elected officials (one member each) to hold office. (ex: house of reps and the senate)

·         Closed primary: participation in voting for a party’s candidate is limited to voters who belong to that party.

·         Open primary: Independents and other voters from different parties are allowed to “cross over” and vote in other party’s primaries.

·         General election: labor day to election day, the goal is to win a majority of electoral college votes by winning popular vote state by state. The nominees from each party run against each other.

·         Plurality system: whoever wins the most votes wins the election

·         Proportional representation system: seats in legislature are allocated according to a party’s share of the popular vote. Seen often in European systems.

·         Political Party: organizations created for the purpose of winning elections and governing once in office

·         Realignment: rise of a new political coalition to power for a period of decades.

·         Grassroots Lobbying: a form of pressure-group activity that attempts to involve individuals who contact their representatives directly in an effort to influence policy… persuading ordinary voters to act as the group’s activists.

·         Winner-take-all: A district in which whichever candidate gets the most votes, wins the seat in congress. This is how senators and representatives are chosen.

·         Gerrymandering: the process by which the party in power draws election district boundaries in a way that enhances the reelection for its candidate

·         Soft money: a contribution to a political party that is not accounted as going to a particular candidate, thus avoiding various legal limitations.

·         Hard money: money given to candidate that can be spent as she or he choses

·         Apportionment: the determination of the proportional number of members each US state sends to the House of Representatives, based on population figures.

·         Free-rider problem: benefits from a group that are offered to members AND nonmembers. The incentive to join the group and to promote its cause is reduced because nonmembers (free riders) receive benefits without having to pay any of the groups costs

·         Retrospective voting: voters evaluating candidates based on their past performance and decide whether or not to support them

·         Prospective voting: voters evaluating candidates’ positions on important issues and vote for the best candidate that represents their views

·         Invisible primary: critical period before the first presidential primaries when candidates compete for public support, media attention, and financial contributions

·         Economic groups: interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government

·         Citizens’ groups: group drawn together to promote a cause in which they believe but does not provide them significant individual economic benefits

·         Inside lobbying: direct communication between organized interest and policy makers which is based on the assumed value of close (inside) contacts with policymakers

·         Outside lobbying: the use of public pressure as a means of influencing officals

·         Iron triangle:A small informal but stable group of well positioned legislators, executives, and lobbyist who seek to promote policies beneficial to a particular interest

·         Issue network: open network of public officials and lobbyist who come together in response to a proposed policy in an area of interest to each of them. Unlike iron triangle, an issue network disbands after the issue is resolved

·         Political action committee (PAC): collect money for campaign contributions and other activity. By law, funds must be raised through voluntary contributions

1.      Selective incentives for people who join interest groups include:

§         Material benefit (tangible reward)

§         Solidary benefit (interaction and bonding among members)

§         Expressive benefit (be committed to greater cause/opportunity to express)

2.      What is the primary benefit that people receive from joining economic groups?

§         People tend to receive economic benefits from joining economic groups. If I join a group that supports businesses, I’m likely to benefit economically if it helps my business.

3.      What does the group AARP represent?

§         Retired people

4.      In what ways do interest groups seek to impact the political process?

§         They represent specific public interests, take part in education (agenda building and provision of program alternatives), and program monitoring.

5.      What are the primary criticisms of the effects of interest groups on our politics?

§         They represent narrow interests. Their influence could mean that our political system only responds to these narrow interests.

6.      What’s meant by the “revolving door” between congress and lobbyists?

§         The revolving door is the idea that members of congress and their staffs often move into lobbying and then lobby other members of congress. This creates a back and forth relationship between congress and lobbyists.

7.      How are presidential candidates nominated?

§         Presidential candidates are nominated through the primaries and caucuses of their political parties and then officially chosen during their party conventions.

8.      How are vice presidential candidates nominated? How has this changed over time?

§         They are selected by each party’s nominating convention, following the selection of the party’s presidential candidates.

§         Conventions have changed from events where real news was made in the selection of candidates to large advertising events for political parties????

9.      Why have primaries become increasingly used to choose presidential candidates?

§         They better connect voters to the choice of political candidates. They are more democratic/representative.

10. How does the electoral college choose the president of the US? Can you win the popular vote and still not be elected president?

§         Electors to the electoral college are chosen during the presidential election in November. These electors then meet and vote for the president in December. It IS possible to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote. This happened to Al Gore.

11. Why was the electoral college created?

§         To limit the power of the masses and to reflect the importance of states.

12. Where does the first presidential primary take place during each presidential election?

§         The New Hampshire Primary

13. Where does the first presidential caucus take place during each presidential election?

§         The Iowa Caucus

14. How do caucuses and direct primaries differ from one another?

§         Primaries have been used more and more over the years to choose delegates. A caucus is more locally-based. A primary is state-wide and uses a ballot. Primaries are more democratic while caucuses are more informed and interactive.

15. How has the role of national party conventions changed in choosing presidential nominees?

§         Conventions have changed from events where real news was made in the selection of candidates to large advertising events for political parties

16. What are party platforms? What do platforms do for political parties?

§         Platforms are the proposals of what the political parties want to achieve when they’re in government. They allow the political parties to define what their image looks like and shape how people see them.

17. How are members of the House of Representatives chosen?

§         Chosen every second year by the people…single member districts

18. How are members of the senate chosen? How has this changed over time?

§         Two senators from each state, elected by the people of that state, for six years.

§         Senators used to be chosen by state legislators rather than by popular vote!

19. What explanation has been offered regarding why the US only has two major political parties?

§         Sociological explanation: the number of socio-economic divisions in society will influence the number of parties that they have. The more divisions = the more parties.

§         Institution explanation: we have single member districts with a plurality system (first past the post?)

20. What is Duverger’s Law?

§         In countries with single member, winner take all (or plurality) elections, there will tend to only be 2 political parties.

21. What political party currently dominates Texas politics?

§         Republican

22. What party historically dominated Texas politics before the 1980s?

§         Democrats

23. What purpose do political parties serve in our political system?

§         Political linkage, unification of a fragmented government, a voice for the opposition.

24. What is meant by the responsible party model?

§         When political parties promise to implement particular policies when they control the government and then actively implement those policies when they do control government.

25. How did political parties develop?

§         Over time people recognized that they shared common ideologies and sought to get candidates elected to office.

26. What supreme court case allowed the creation of super PACs?

§         Citizens united vs. federal election commission

27. How do super PACs differ from PACs?

§         A PAC is a political action committee. This is a group that raises and spends money on behalf of a candidate or an interest but is separate from the campaign. Super PACs differ from PACs because they can accept unlimited donations.

28. Why is a census required by the constitution?

§         In order to apportion the seats in congress so that they reflect the populations of states

29. How does the census impact the division of seats in the House and Senate?

§         A census is required so that reapportionment can be done. States gaining population can gain seats, states losing population can lose seats.

§         Is Senate affected since each state gets 2??

30. How do members of the House of Reps an the Senate compare and contrast?

§         The House: the people’s house, 2 year terms, smaller requirements, 435 seats

§         Senate: representative of sovereign states, 6 year terms, 100 seats

31. How do political parties help voters choose candidates?

§         They help provide a brand label for political candidates so that people can vote even if they don’t have a lot of information about the candidates.

32. What resources do members of congress use to get reelected?

§         They use their ability to provide constituent service

§         The Franking Privilege (free mail)

§         Ability to bring resources home to their districts to get re-elected.

 INTEREST GROUPS

v     Who developed the idea of the collective action problem? Mancur Olsen

v     Candace Lightner is an example of? A political entrepreneur

v     If there is a difference of opinion b/w an industry (big five auto) and consumers, which side will form an interest group? Auto Manufacturers  

v     How do interest groups overcome the free-loader problem? Selective benefits

v     Who’s ALEC? The AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL

v     What is model legislation? Written by a group for use in multiple jurisdictions

v     Who belongs to ALEC? Corporations and legislators from various states

v     Amicus Curiae means? Friend of the court

v     Why do interest groups file amicus briefs? Because they may be very effective.

v     If lots of individuals and groups file amicus briefs saying the court shouldn’t take a case, how is the court likely to respond? It will take the case, because their involvement signals the case’s importance.

v     In addition to amicus briefs, interest groups can affect the outcome of litigation by bringing suit and being a party.

POLITICAL PARTIES

v     What’s a political party? An organization that runs candidates for office under a common banner in order to control governmental institutions.

v     Who were the first political parties in congress? The federalists and the democratic-republican

v     What was the first mass-based party called? The Albany Residency

v     Why were party machines so effective? They rewarded loyalty with patronage and other services.

v     What is patronage? Providing a government job to someone in exchange for their support.

v     What is the name of the document expressing the beliefs and policy agenda of a party? Platform

v     What’s the name of a ballot issued by the gov’t that includes all the names of the candidates that are running? Australian Ballot

v     What happens in a non-binding primary? Delegates can vote for whoever they want

v     Which service do modern part organizations routinely provide to candidates? Coordinating primaries

v     Which placed limitations on the amount of money a party could donate to election campaigns? The Federal Election Campaign Acts of 1971 and 1974

v     What does it mean for the US to have a two party system? Only two parties realistically compete for office.

v     Which is a barrier to third party support in the US? Single member districts

v     Which independent candidate received 18% of the vote in 1992? Ross Perot

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

v     Why is voter participation in elections at all levels of government important? It promotes the stability of our democracy, it’s an opportunity to vote one’s preference, and it’s a measure of the accountability of elected representatives.

v     Voter participation rates are lowest in local elections

v     Highest rate of participation in elections? Elderly Voters

v     Which of the following statements represents the views of those who support voter identification law? Showing a valid form of id to vote increases public trust in election outcomes.

v     Which group is most affected by voter identification laws? Low income, young, minority voters.

ELECTIONS AND CAMPAIGNS

v     Which of the following is the event from which the national party nominees for president are chosen? A convention

v     Is Florida better off? No, early primary elections only matter if they are earlier relative to other states.

v     The national parties can penalize state parties for ignoring national party rules regarding timing of primaries by reducing he number of convention delegates the state receives

v     If a candidate for president is receiving public funding during the primary and caucus season, the candidate will lose federal funding in which of these scenarios? He receives less than 10% of the vote in two consecutive primaries.

v     What impact does winning early primary elections have on candidates? It builds momentum and excitement among candidate’s followers.

v     Individuals and groups have found ways to inject more money into political activity thanks to decisions of the supreme court

v     Which of the following is true about positive campaign ads? They can help candidates solidify their own voting base by making them seem approachable and upstanding.

v     What was the result of Elizabeth Dole’s negative ad about Kay Hagan? It promoted a backlash against Dole by people who thought she’d gone too far.