CHAPTER 9: political parties
Chapter 10: voting and elections
Chapter 11: interests groups and propaganda
___________________
NAME
CHAPTER 9
1.
POLITICAL PARTY: a group of people with the same political ideas who's goal is
to get their people elected to office.
2.
TWO-PARTY SYSTEM: political system with two major political parties who fight
for power.
3.
THIRD PARTY: a smaller party aside from the two major ones in a two-party
system.
4.
PLATFORM: a list of a political party's ideas
5.
PLANK: part of a platform
6.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE: a political party's planning group at the national level.
Main job is to organize the party's national convention every four years to
announce their party's candidate for President.
7.
CAUCUS: a political party meeting
8.
PRECINCT: voting district
9.
WARD: a group of voting districts
10. ADJACENT: next to, or along-side
11. POLITICAL MACHINE: situation where a political party becomes too powerful, to
the point where they don't even need to try to win elections.
12. DIRECT PRIMARY: election that determines which candidate gets to represent
their party in a general election
13. CLOSED PRIMARY: primary election that only allows registered political party
members to vote.
14. OPEN PRIMARY: primary election that allows anyone to vote, regardless of
political affiliation.
15. PLURALITY: a majority of votes
CHAPTER 10
1.
2.
3.
POLLING PLACE: where people vote at for political elections.
BALLOT: the list of candidates who appear on the election card
ABSENTEE BALLOT: type of ballot people can vote on and submit if they cannot
make to the polling place on election day.
4.
RETURNS: election results
5.
EXIT POLL: gathering of election results by interviewing people after they vote.
6.
ELECTORATE: people eligible to vote
7.
APATHY: disinterest or lack of caring
8.
INITIATIVE: a special election that allows voters to vote on proposing a new
law.
9.
PROPOSITION: a special election that allows voters to ask for a new law
10. REFERENDUM: special election that allows voters to approve or reject a new law
11. RECALL: special election to remove a public official from office
12. ELECTOR: someone who casts the electoral votes in a Presidential election
13. PROPAGANDA: ideas or advertisements designed to mislead people to think a
certain way
14. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (PAC): groups (either in industry or business)
designed to raise money to give to candidates who support their cause.
15. SOFT MONEY: money given to a political party with no particular purpose
16. INCUMBENT: candidate running for re-election in an office they already occupy
CHAPTER 11
1.
2.
3.
PUBLIC OPINION: the general feeling of the public about an issue
MASS MEDIA: newspapers, TV, internet... anything that reports news.
INTEREST GROUP: group of people who share a common cause. Their goal is to
influence politicians to pass laws that benefit them.
4.
PUBLIC OPINION POLL: survey designed to measure the general feeling of the
public about an issue or person.
5.
POLLSTER: someone who conducts a poll
6.
PRINT MEDIA: books, magazines, newspapers
7.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA: TV, radio, internet
8.
LEAK: act of a politician to reveal secret information to the public - either to
gauge the public opinion about a potential action or by accident.
9.
PRIOR RESTRAINT: censoring before publishing
10. NONPARTISAN: doesn't involve politics
11. PARTISAN: involves politics
VOCAB EXERCISE
1. A ______________________ is a geographic area consisting of specific
voters.
2. In a _____________________ only registered members of a political
party may vote.
3. The location where voting is carried out is called the
_____________________.
4. A _______________ is someone who conducts a poll.
5. __________________________ takes place when people survey your
voting choices as you leave the polling place.
6. ______________________ means lack of interest.
7. An _____________________________ is an election where voters can
propose new laws.
8. A ________________________________ is an election where voters
can remove a public official from office.
9. A _________________________________ is an election where voters
can approve or reject laws.
10. The __________________________ is all the people registered to
vote.
11. A _______________________ issue is one that DOES NOT involve
politics.
12. ____________________________ is certain ideas that may involve
misleading messages designed to manipulated people.
13. _____________________ is money not designated for any candidate.
14. The _______________________ is the person in an election who is
currently serving in office.
15. ___________________ are political organizations established by
corporations and interest groups to raise massive amounts of money for
political candidates.
16. A ______________ ___ is a list of positions and ideas for a political
party.
17. A _______________________ is a part of a platform.
18. A ________________________________ is a situation where a
political party wins every election.
19. _______________________________ are elections to determine who
will run in a general election.
20.
The ____________________________________ for a political
party consists of representatives from all the states.
CHAPTER 9 NOTES (POLITICAL PARTIES)
9.1: Development of Political Parties
1. The first two political parties were the FEDERALISTS and DEMOCRAT-REPUBLICANS.
2. The leader of the Federalist Party was ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
3. The leader of the Democrat-Republicans was THOMAS JEFFERSON.
4. By 1820, the Federalist Party had died out. By 1830, the Democrat-Republicans had split into two
different parties - the DEMOCRATS and WHIGS.
5. In 1854, some Whigs and Democrats combined to form the REPUBLICAN party. Six years later, the
first Republican President was elected - Abraham Lincoln. These two parties have remained the two
primary parties since then.
9.2: Political Parties: the Basics
6. There are three types of political party systems. They are:
a. ONE-PARTY: only one party exists, or is allowed to exist. Primary example would be China or
other Communist/dictatorships.
b. TWO-PARTY: Two parties exist and compete for power. The USA is the best example of this.
While the USA does have third parties, none of them are strong enough to compete directly.
c. MULTI-PARTY: Numerous parties exist. Examples of countries with this system would be
Canada and Israel. Since it's difficult - if not impossible- for a single party to take complete
control, parties often have to form "coalitions" (or alliances) with each other.
7. The primary goal of a political party is to win ELECTIONS.
8. The list of goals ideas a political party has can be found on their PLATFORM. A single party of their
platform is called a PLANK.
9. Political parties are organized at three levels: NATIONAL, STATE, and LOCAL.
10. Parties at the national level are run by a NATIONAL COMMITTEE run by a "national party
chairperson." Their primary function is to hold the National Convention every four years - which is
held to formally announce their candidate for U.S. President.
11. State and Local parties tend to differ from state/county in terms of power and influence. Some are
strongly organized, while others are poorly organized.
12. You can declare your political party affiliation when you RENEW YOUR LICENSE thanks to the Voter
Registration Act. More on this in Chapter 10.
9.3: Democrats vs. Republicans
9. The main difference between these two parties is their idea of how much the GOVERNMENT
should be involved in the lives of people.
10. Democrats are LIBERAL meaning they believe the government should have a major role in the lives
of people. They support government programs to assist the people. Because of this, this usually
leads to HIGHER TAXES when Democrats are in power since that money is needed to fund the
programs. Democrats tend to favor heavy regulation of the economy.
11. Republicans are CONSERVATIVE, meaning they prefer to have less government involvement in the
lives of people and spend more time on improving the economy. They feel less regulation of
business leads to bigger profits, which in turn mean better pay for the workers.
12. Do note that neither party is the "BEST" party. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
9.4: Roles of Political Parties
A)
B)
C)
CAMPAIGNING FOR CANDIDATES
INFORMING CITIZENS
CARRYING THE MESSAGE OF THE PEOPLE
D) OPERATING THE GOVERNMENT
E) LINKING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
(National > State > Local)
F) ACTING AS A “WATCHDOG”
CHAPTER 10 NOTES (ELECTIONS)
10.1: TYPES OF ELECTIONS
1. There are TWO types of elections: PRIMARIES AND GENERAL
2. PRIMARY: where a party elects their representative to run....
a. CLOSED: only political party members can vote. Most common.
b. OPEN: anyone can vote. Rare.
3. GENERAL: where the people elect who gets the position.
4. Elections aren't used to just vote a person into office. They can be used for other things, such as...
a. INITIATIVE: voters can ask the government to passing a new law about an issue.
b. REFERENDUM: people vote to pass or reject a law.
c. RUNOFF: held in the event no candidate can get a PLURALITY (or majority) of votes in an
election.
d. RECALL: election in which voters vote on to remove someone from office before their term
is up.
5. Just know - that in every election except ONE - the winner is determined by who gets the most
votes. The exception to that rule is PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
10.2: THE VOTING PROCESS
6. REQUIREMENTS: You must be 18, a citizen, and live within your district.
7. Voting is done at the POLLING PLACE
8. Election Day is on the first TUESDAY - after the first Monday in NOVEMBER
9. After you show up, you'll have your eligibility to vote checked. Once you've been proven to be a
legit voter, you'll go behind the curtains and cast your ballot (vote). Most voting today is done by
machine - the most common being the BUTTERFLY-BALLOT
a. You can vote a STRAIGHT TICKET if you just want to vote for all people in a certain political
party!
10. If you cannot make it to the polling place on Election Day, you can request an ABSENTEE BALLOT
which you can fill out and mail in before the actual election.
10.3: MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
11. The media always tries to predict the winners/losers in elections before the ballots are casted.
Their primary methods of doing this are the following:
12. EXIT POLLING this is basically having someone sit outside the polling place asking people leaving
who they voted for.
13. GEOGRAPHY basically means due to time-zones, the east coast will finish up before the west coast.
10.4: PEOPLE AND VOTING
14. Generally, people who are more EDUCATED and have a higher INCOME tend to vote more so than
anyone else.
15. Voting is important since it's the MOST COMMON way we participate in government.
16. Some people don't vote, the most common reasons are; APATHY (lack of interest), they fail to meet
the requirements, or they just feel there isn't a candidate on the ballot they like.
10.5: FINANCING (PAYING FOR) ELECTIONS
17. The amount it costs to pay for an election campaign varies depending on what office you're running
for. Local offices can cost thousands - state offices exceed well over $10,000 - and national offices
can cost MILLIONS. So where does this money come from?
18. Most campaign money comes from PRIVATE sources. The most common donor of private funding
comes from PAC'S (Political Action Committees). These are groups set up by interest groups to raise
funds so they can give it to candidates that support their cause.
19. Another source of private funding comes from SOFT MONEY which is money given to a political
party - without a purpose attached to it.
20. PUBLIC FUNDING does exist - at least for anyone running for President. When you do your income
tax, there is an option that allows you to donate $3 to the fund. Candidates can draw up to
$100,000 from this fund - but they cannot accept any other direct contributions.
10.6: FECA
21. FECA is the FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT. It was legislation passed in order to "slow" down
the rampant spending on elections.
22. FECA created the FEC (Federal Election Commission), an regulatory agency that oversees elections
and enforces election laws. You may remember this from Chapter 7. Or not.
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CHAPTER 11: PUBLIC OPIION (Use text - Really)
1. Public opinion is the attitudes people hold towards an issue.
2. There are FOUR primary sources of a person’s public opinion, they are personal background, mass
media, public officials, and interest groups.
3. The strength of one’s opinion is referred to as its intensity.
4. We measure public opinion by giving public opinion polls.
5. A pollster is responsible for conducting polls.
6. Random sampling involves questioning random people.
7. Push polls are looked down upon because the questions are worded in a way to influence an
answer.
8. One benefit of polling is it allows public officials to get an idea of how well a job they are doing, as
well as stay in touch with the needs of the people.
9. One criticism of polling is that it forces public officials to worry about how popular they are instead
of making the wisest political choices. They can also influence people NOT to vote if the person they
support is reported to be far behind.
10. Two types of media are electronic and print.
11. A reason a political official might "leak" something to the media would be to measure the public
reaction before the government goes through with an idea.
12. The media plays a watchdog role, since they are more than happy to report government waste or
corruption.
13. Prior restraint is censoring something before it is published. (Our government cannot do that).
14. One limitation on the media is they cannot commit libel/slander. If the government (or whoever
was lied about) can prove there was intent involved, the publisher/author could be
arrested/imprisoned.
15. Some of the most powerful interest groups are economic interest groups. Other types include ones
that promote a specific group or promote a certain cause.
16. A PAC is designed to raise money for political candidates.
17. Techniques interest groups use – page 336, KNOW EM’.
18. What are some criticisms of interest groups?
19. Someone who works for an interest group is a lobbyist.
CHAPTER 9/10/11 REVIEW
1. What were the first two political parties?
2. Who was the leader of the Federalist Party?
3. Who was the leader of the Democrat-Republicans?
4. What happened to the Federalist Party by 1820?
5. What happened to the Democrat-Republican Party by 1830?
6. What two groups combined to form the Republican Party by 1854?
7. What are the three types of political party systems?
8. Which party system does the USA possess?
9. What is the primary goal of political parties?
10. How are political parties organized?
11. When can you officially declare what political party you wish to affiliate with?
12. What did the Voter Registration Act do?
13. What is the primary difference between Democrats and Republicans?
14. What does "liberal" mean?
15. What does "conservative" mean?
16. What are some various roles political parties fulfill today?
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17. What are the two types of elections?
18. Why do most states run closed primaries? (need to THINK about this one...)
19. Aside from elections, what are some other things voting can be used for?
20. What are the requirements to vote?
21. When is Election Day?
22. What is the purpose of an absentee ballot?
23. How does the media predict election results before the votes are officially calculated? (two
ways)
24. What type of people tend to vote?
25. What are the three major reasons people do not vote?
26. Where does the majority of money used to finance elections come from?
27. What is a source of public funding for the Presidential election?
28. What is FECA? Why was it passed into law?
29. Who's job is it to regulate elections?
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30. What are the four sources from where we acquire our public opinion?
31. Why are push polls frowned upon?
32. What is a benefit to polling?
33. What is a criticism to polling?
34. What are the two types of media?
35. Why would a public official leak information to the media?
36. What is a limitation the media has in terms to what it reports?
37. Which interest groups tend to be the most powerful?
38. What is the purpose of a political action committee?
39. What are some criticisms of interest groups? (Note: forgot to put this in the notes, so the
answer is below)
a. They spend so much money on elections, many feel they can the government gives
them too much power and influence in the political process.
40. Page 336 Text: copy down techniques interest groups use. Should go in your notebook
along with your notes.