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POS1041 Final ReviewPublic Opinion:Public Opinion : Opinions that the government finds necessary to heed.Confounding Problems: Multiple publics, unstable/shifting opinions, political ignoranceRandom Sample: Random selection & random assignment for a survey, totally random, leads to more accurate results compared to the populationNon-random Sample: Not completely random, examples are online surveys, putting out an ad in the newspaper. The samples aren’t reliableSLOP surveys (Self-selected Listener Opinion Poll): Self selective surveys, they get to choose whether they are in it or not. Non-randomGinsberg’s Problems with polling: Can’t truly be a democratic development, says polling makes public opinion a subsidized matter and it’s now based on attitude and not behaviorFiorina’s Culture War Argument: Red/Blue states are closely connected on many issues and divided on some others. Nothing to garner a “culture war” or “polarization”. Says they are closely and NOT deeply divided.Electoral Participation:Voting turnout decline: Including 18 year olds in the group to vote, expanding total # of voters with the voters who are least likely to vote.Rationality of voting: Only rational if benefits > costs or if your vote will matter. Most people are irrational and vote because of a moral issue or they really like a candidate or they have the time/money to do so.Comparative US turnout: US turnout is low because it is a pluralist system with 2 parties, other democracies have PR systems where even if their party gets a small amount of the votes they still get seatsCampaigns & Elections (emphasis on Presidential)Nomination stage: Includes the pre-primary phase or “invisible primary” which involves name recognition and beginning to measure support for the potential candidate. Then the delegate selection/primary phase which is an intra-party competition to gain the major party nomination at the Nat’l Convention. General Election stage: After being nominated, running against the other party’s candidate in the general election. Usually the candidate moves closer to the center, becomes more moderate. Campaigns across the country, especially in key battleground states or “swing states”. Candidates lower expectations for themselves & raise the expectations of the opponent. Primary election: Election to determine who will represent the party for the general electionCaucus: Closed meeting of delegates to determine who receives their delegate count for that state for the National Convention to determine who the presidential candidate will be“ Closed” & “Open” : Closed primaries only allow members of that party to participate while open primaries allow anyone who is registered to vote to participatePolitical Parties:Why are there parties: It makes collective action easier by grouping various interests together to take care of national, state & local problems3-part conceptualization of parties:Duverger’s Law: Plurality rule in single member districts favors a 2 party system, voters choose not to support weaker parties because they don’t have a chance to win. Spatial/Proximity theory of voting: Voters will vote for whoever is most closely related to them. In the primaries the candidates are more liberal/conservative but become more moderate to close in on the “median voter” to get the most votesInterest Groups & Lobbying:Interest Group: Any voluntary association that seeks to publicly promote and create advantage for its cause. Groups of like minded individuals seeking similar goals in the political arenaSelf-oriented/Economic interest group: Seek policy goals that directly benefit their own group membershipPublic interest group: Advocate for general interests for the general public for like education, health care. They don’t represent small groupsLobbying/Lobbyists: The paid activity in which special interests groups argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies. Lobbyists are hired to make the case for these special interest groupsJames Madison’s view of Factions: Federalist 10 he argues they form naturally, Madison says large Republics over a smaller Republic or a pure Democracy can control for factions. He says you can destroy the liberty of the existence of a faction or give everyone the same opinions, interests etc. The only solution is a large representative government in which many factions could flourish & a system of checks in balances in place would check/balance all of the different factions so no one could get too large.Pluralism/Pluralist model/theory of democracy: Collective/Public good: A good that is non-excludable and non-rivalrous in consumption that benefits the population as a whole. Free-rider/Free-rider problem: Free rider is someone who receives the benefits of something but does not contribute to the causeSelective benefits or incentives: Only the people in the groups can receive the benefits. Material incentives are things you get in return for participating, Social incentives are being a part of the group/making connections, Moral incentives are just the thought of moral duty to participateDirect/Indirect Lobbying: Direct lobbying is the lobbying used to influence members of legislative bodies directly via communication with members of that body. Grass roots lobbying refers to indirect lobbying where groups try to get the attention of the general public who then in turn get the attention of the legislative body.Political Action Committee: Organization that campaigns for or against political candidates/legislation etc. According to FECA if a group campaigns more than $1,000 it is a PAC. Misconceptions on PACs: Most congressional campaign funds come from PACs (but only 25% did), most PACS contribute a lot of money (2/3 of PACs contributed <$50,000), PACs are clearly buying the votes of members of congress (don’t donate enough to have a substantial effect)Media:Feeding Frenzy: Intense media coverage or an important story in American media. In politics it is usually a scandal, Bill Clinton’s blow job scandal is an example. Lapdog Journalism: (Into 1960’s)-Served/reinforced the political establishment, “cooperative press”, private lives off-limits.Watchdog Journalism: (1960’s-Early 1970’s)-Media scrutinized & checked behavior when affected public performance. -More adversarial press-”Credibility gap” - product of U2 Spy Plane, Vietnam lies & WatergateJunkyard dog journalism: (Since 1980’s) -


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FSU POS 1041 - Final Review

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