POL 106 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I. PartiesII. Interest Groups Outline of Current Lecture I. Who Votes and Who Doesn’tII. Why Americans Don’t VoteIII. How the Voter DecidesIV. Presidential CampaignsV. General Election CampaignsCurrent LectureWho Votes and Who Doesn’tAge: Younger Americans vote less frequentlyIncome: Poorer Americans vote less frequentlyEducation: Americans with less education vote less frequentlyRace and Ethnicity: Minorities vote less frequentlyWhy Americans Don’t Vote:Legal Obstacles- Registration- Tuesday voting- Frequency of electionsAttitude Changes- Lower efficacy- Decreased party identification- ApathyThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.Voter Mobilization- Mixed level of effort by partiesDecrease in Social Connectedness- Less participation in social groups and communitiesGenerational Changes- Active generations replaced by less politically engaged onesRational Nonvoter- Calculates that will not make a difference to outcome- Most people find other motivating reasons to vote- Existence of Electoral College meansEX) vote of a conservative Republican in Massachusetts really does not count**Nonvoting does not significantly affect election outcomeHow the Voter DecidesParty Identification- Directly influences the vote- Indirectly influences the vote by affecting the perception of issues and candidate evaluationsSocial GroupsIssues and Policy- Reliance on party labels- Easy vs. hard issues- Media coverage- Prospective Voting: Basing voting decisions on well-informed opinions and consideration of the future consequences of a given vote- Retrospective Voting: Basing voting decisions on reactions to past performance; approving the status quo or signaling a desire for change- Prospective voting is an idealized model of policy voting, but retrospective voting is more realisticCandidates- Voters form clear opinions about candidate qualities that are relevant to governing- Voters perceive differences between candidates on issues and on how they would handle aspects of presidencyPresidential CampaignsPre-Primary Season: Raise money, raise credibilityParty Caucus: Local gathering of party members to choose convention delegatesPresidential Primary: An election by which voters choose convention delegates committed to voting for a certain candidateFront-Loading: The process of scheduling presidential primaries early in the primary seasonFrontrunner: The leading candidate and expected winner of a nomination or an electionMomentum: The widely held public perspective that a candidate has gained electoral strengthOpen Primary: Voters are not required to declare party affiliationClosed Primary: Voters are required to declare party affiliationGeneral Election CampaignsValence Issue: An issue on which most voters and candidates share the same positionPosition Issue: An issue on which the parties differ in their perspectives and proposed solutionsWedge Issue: A controversial issue that one party uses to split the voters in the other partyIssue Ownership: The tendency of one party to be seen as more competent in a specific policy areaNegative Advertising: Campaign advertising that emphasizes the negative characteristics of opponents rather than one’s own strengthsIssue Advocacy Ads: Advertisements paid for by soft money, and thus not regulated, that promote certain issue positions but do not endorse specific candidatesGet-Out-the-Vote (GOTV): Drives by parties and groups- Grassroots efforts that have increased in recent