Political Science 206 Texas A M University Last Exam Review You should be comfortable with the following terms and concepts Keep in mind that these are just some but by no means all of the more important topics we ve covered since the 2nd midterm Public Opinion Political Socialization Elements of public opinion o How can it be characterized Agents of political socialization o What are they Family Cornerstone of democracy theory Leaders are supposed to listen to the voice of the people Inconsistent with founding fathers vision of trustee model Most powerful agent of socialization Education Peer groups Media Reduces costs of participation Reflect preexisting community ties Reflect preexisting political attitudes Socio Economic status Favors economic self interest Race Gender Become more conservative as rise in SES Gender gap on partisanship and issues Act as big influencing factors on how people develop their personal o How do they work Core American values opinion o What are the core values Americans agree upon Individual liberty freedom Bill of rights Capitalism Political equality Equal access to political system voting Rule of law Random sampling non random sampling o How does it work Pull a random sample of target population Non random things like radio television or internet surverys Because only the ones that are most interested and touched by the issue are speaking their opinions Your missing the voice of the man who doesn t care as much or may be too busy o Why is it important Confidence interval drawn subset Fundamental requirement for representativeness You can draw inference about population by examining a randomly o 95 confidence interval means 95 out of 100 times this statistic will be correct o 95 of the time the sample will reflect the population within the margin of error Margin of error o What does this mean o How does it vary Expresses the upper and lower bounds of the results Inversely related to sample size with diminishing marginal returns Need 100 to make inferences about 200 million What are the major threats to a survey s validity o Some households don t have phones May under represent poor people minorities less educated o Polling organizations differ in the number of contacts they make Campaigns and Elections Strategic decision making in producing electoral accountability o Strong PCs don t want to waste their time money and resources launching a candidacy against an incumbent who is unbeatable o Incumbents win b c they deter strong PCs from contesting the decision called incumbent deterrence the perception of power is power o Incumbents get out of races they expect to lose and run when they expect to win Uncompetitive congressional races o What are some sources of uncompetitive races Races where the incumbent is vulnerable due to war redistricting adverse econmomic conditions incumbent missteps or scandal local political tides presidential popularity first term incumbent Incumbency advantages o Examples of Donors give more money to incumbents b c more expected to win Able to get out when they think they ll lose o Why should we care Impacts the incumbency on vote share Incumbent deterrence o What does this mean that election year o How does this matter Like intimidation Soft money vs hard money o What is this The strength of the Incumbents will deter strong PCs from contesting Maybe the challenger was truly better for the public But incumbent has hands in everyone pocket so challenger will not get elected Hard money limited amount FEC regulated One s own money individual contributors PACs Political action committees Parties all FEC regulate Soft money can give as much money as they want Independent groups Unregulated independent expenditures Not subject to FEC rules and not limited 5 2 7 groups Super PACs o How does this work 527 groups o Who are these groups U S tax exempted organization o Where did they come from Created to primarily to influence the selection nomination election appointment or defeat of candidates to federal state or local public office Buckley v Valeo SC ruling Federal Election Campaign Act 1974 o What are the major components of this law Caps the amount of candidates could contribute to their own campaign self financing Cap on total amount campaign could spend Allowed unions and corporations to form PACs Reporting requirements for all contributions over 250 Capped amount of individuals parties and PACs could contribute to a campaign Hard money o What did this law establish Federal Elections Commission o What portions of this law have been upheld struck down by the SC Buckley v Valeo 1976 Attacked FECA as violation of 1st amendment Court upheld restrictions on the size of campaign contributions Hard money Struck down limits on candidate spending self financing and independent expenditures Opened door to soft money loopholes parties and PACs making independent expenditures Federal Elections Commission o What does it do Oversees all federal races House Senate Presidency Set contribution limits by individuals parties and PACs Was born out of Watergate Scandal Composed of 6 members nominated by president and confirmed by 6 year terms 3 Dem and 3 Reps Senate Key MCs have recommended names to WH Many are former MCs party chairs Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act McCain Feingold Act o What are the major components of this law New set of reforms passed in2002 to replace FECA Primary goal eliminate soft money Ban soft money and increase hard money caps o What did this law establish Soft money could only be used for Party building activities registration drive GOTV most controversial purpose was to issue advocacy ads that work for a candidate and against another o Has it been effective No because there has been a rise of 527 s that use the raised to promote or defeat a candidate Played huge role in 2008 and 2012 Presidential public financing system o How does this work Component of FECA that still exists 2 tracks Primary nomination o To qualify raise 5000 in 250 increments in 20 states Show grass roots across nation General election o To qualify must be the major party nominee If qualified then have choice to accept or reject for either of the 2 or both If accept for nomination Government will match dollar to dollar of what you raise Have to abide to a spending cap of 40 M for primary If accepted for GE Government will give candidate a grant of 85 M Cannot spend more than the grant If decline federal aid then do not have to conform to spending
View Full Document
Unlocking...