American National Government Review Sheet Test 2 POLS 206 This is a list of general topics you will need to know in order to do well on the second test 1 What is public opinion a The study of American public opinion aims to understand the distribution of the population s beliefs about politics and policy issues b Because there are many groups and a great variety of opinions in the U S this is an especially complex task c Measuring public opinion involves painstaking interviewing procedures and careful wording of questions 2 What is political socialization a The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes views and knowledge based on inputs from family schools the media and others b Political Socialization is central to the formation of public opinion c As people become more socialized with age their political orientations grow firmer Not surprisingly governments aim their socialization efforts at the young 3 What influences the results of public opinion polls a Question Wording By altering the wording of the question pollsters can manipulate the results of a poll 4 Know the trends regarding trust in government fig 6 4 in slides a In the late 1950s and early 1960s nearly three quarters of Americans said they trusted the gov t in Washington to do the right thing always or mostly b By the late 1960s researchers started to see a precipitous drop in public trust in gov t First Vietnam and then Watergate shook people s confidence in the federal gov t The economic troubles of the Carter years and the Iran Hostage Crisis helped continue the downward slide c By 1980 only one quarter of the public thought the gov t could be trusted most of the time or always d Since then trust in gov t has risen occasionally but the only time the majority said they could trust the gov t most of the time was in 2002 after the events of 9 11 5 What is political ideology a Political Ideology is a coherent set of beliefs about politics public policy and public purpose which helps give meaning to political events b Ex Conservative ideology supports a less active scope of gov t that gives free reign to the private sector 6 Know the different groups identified in The American Voter 4 groups a Ideologues 12 of Americans showed evidence of thinking in ideological terms Ideologues connect their opinions and beliefs w broad policy positions taken by parties or candidates Ex Ideologues would say they liked the Democrats because they were more liberal or the Republicans because they favored a smaller gov t b Group Benefit Voters 42 of Americans are classified as Group Benefit Voters These people thought of politics mainly in terms of the groups they liked or disliked Ex Republicans support small business owners like me or Democrats are the party of the working person c Nature of the Times Voters 24 of Americans are Nature of the Times Voters Their handle on politics was limited to whether the times seemed good or bad to them they might vaguely link the party in power w the country s misfortune d No Issue Content Group 22 of Americans are No Issue Content Group Most of them simply voted routinely for the party or judged the candidates solely by their personalities 7 Know the different components of the three headed political giant political parties a Party in the Electorate the largest component of an American political party American parties do not require dues or membership cards Americans may register as democrat republican libertarian or independent but registration is not legally binding This is having membership to a party You are what you say you are because there is no formal membership The party in electorate consists largely of symbolic images and ideas For most people the party is a psychological label Ex Party Image b Party Organization has a national office a state headquarters a full time staff rules and bylaws and budgets they are the people who keep the party running between elections and make its rules Shows the hierarchy of politics and parties in America c Party In Government consists of elected officials who call themselves members of the party Party that has control has most influence on who gets what when where and how Voters are attracted to a party in gov t by its performance and policies What a party has done in office and what it promises to do greatly influences who will join its coalition a Ticket Splitting is voting with one party for one office and with another party for other offices It has become the norm in American voting behavior This is most practiced by voters who call themselves Independents a First in contrast to the 1952 1980 period when democrats greatly outnumbered Republicans the Democrat Party s edge in terms of identifiers in the electorate has lately been quite modest In 1964 there were more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans whereas in 2008 Republicans trailed Democrats by a mere 6 percentage points b Second in most recent elections the most frequent response to the party identification question has been the Independent option In 2012 42 of the population called themselves Independents 8 What is ticket splitting 9 Know the trends of party identification 10 Know the functions of political party conventions committees and chairpersons a Political Party Conventions are where the parties formalize their platforms presenting their plan for governing the nation to the voters b Committees In the United States a political party committee is an organization officially affiliated with a political party and registered with the Federal Elections Commission FEC which raises and spends money for political campaigning c Chairpersons The role of a party chairman is often quite different from that of a party leader The duties of the chairman are typically concerned with the party membership as a whole and the activities of the party organization Chairmen often play important roles in strategies to recruit and retain members in campaign fundraising and in internal party governance where they may serve as a member of or even preside over a governing board or council They often also have influence in candidate selections and sometimes in the development and promulgation of party policy d Committees and Chairpersons are the people that keep the party running between elections and make its rules 11 What is reapportionment a Reapportionment is the process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of
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