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| The distribution, or percentage, of the electorate that identifies with each of the political parties. |
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| In a democracy, the sum of all individual opinions |
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| A state of mind produced when particular issues evoke attitudes and beliefs that pull in opposite directions. |
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| An organized and consistent manner of thinking and feeling about people, groups, social issues, or, more generally, any event in one's environment. |
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A mental device allowing citizens to make complex decisions based on a small amount of information.
Ex: A candidate's party label serves as a shortcut by telling voters much about his or her positions on issues. |
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| In the United States, a proponent of a political ideology that favors small or limited government, an unfettered free market, self-reliance, and traditional social norms. |
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| Moral beliefs held by citizens that underlie their attitudes toward political and other issues. As integral parts of an individual's identity, these beliefs are stable and resistant to change. |
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| Providing a context that affects the criteria citizens use to evaluate candidates, campaigns, and political issues. |
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| A comprehensive, integrated set of views about government and politics |
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| Groups of citizens who are more attentive to particular areas of public policy than average citizens because such groups have some special stake in the issues. |
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| In the United States, a proponent of a political ideology that favors extensive government action to redress social and economic inequalities and tolerates social behaviors that conservatives view as deviant. Present-day liberals advocate policies benefiting the poor, minority groups, labor unions, women, and the environment and oppose government imposition of traditional social norms. |
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| Uncertainties in public opinion, as revealed by responses to polls, that arise from the imperfect connection between the wording of survey questions and the terms in which people understand and think about political objects |
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| A citizen who is highly attentive to and involved in politics or some related area and to whom other citizens turn for political information and cues. |
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| The process by which citizens acquire their political beliefs and values. |
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| The news media's influence on how citizens make political judgments, through emphasis on particular stories. |
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| "Those opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed." |
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| Tool developed in the twentieth century for systematically investigating the opinions of ordinary people, based on random samples. |
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| The ability of privileged outsiders, such as interest group representatives, to obtain a hearing from elected officials or bureaucrats. |
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| A person who is running for elected office |
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| Spending by the Democratic and Republican Party committees on behalf of individual congressional candidates. |
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| Campaign spending - by a person or organization for or against a political candidate - that is not controlled by or coordinated with any candidate's campaign. |
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| Voting for candidates based on their positions on specific issues, as opposed to their party or personal characteristics. |
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| The act of attacking an opposing candidate's platform, past political performance, or personal characteristics. |
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| A seat in a state or district being contested by candidates, none of whom currently holds the office. Congressional seats become "open" when the incumbent dies or does not run for re-election |
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| An individual's enduring affective or instrumental attachment to one of the political parties; the most accurate single predictor of voting behavior. |
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| A label carrying the party's "brand name," incorporating the policy positions and past performance voters attribute to it. |
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| Basing votes for a candidate or party on how successfully the candidate or party performed while in office. |
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| People who base their votes on candidates' or parties' positions on one particular issue of public policy, regardless of the candidates' or parties' positions on other issues. |
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Money used by political parties for voter registration, public education, and voter mobilization.
Until 2002, when Congress passed legislation outlawing soft money, the government had imposed no limits on contributions or expenditures for such purposes. |
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The right to vote
Suffragists: Women who campaigned in the early twentieth century for the right of women to vote. |
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| A ballot prepared and distributed by government officials that places the names of all candidates on a single list and is filled out by voters in private. |
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| A closed meeting of a political or legislative group to choose candidates for office or to decide issues of policy. |
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| A term used to describe government when one political party controls the executive branch and the other political party controls one or both houses of legislature. |
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| Slates of candidates that "fussed" the nominees of minor and major parties. Fusion tickets, eventually banned by state legislatures, allowed minor parties to boost their votes by nominating candidates also nominated by major parties. |
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National Party Convention
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| A gathering of delegates to select a party's presidential and vice-presidential ticket and to adopt its national platform. |
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| An electoral alliance that was the basis of Democratic dominance from the 1930s to the early 1970s. The alliance consisted of Catholics, Jews, racial minorities, urban residents, organized labor, and white southerners. |
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| State or local party organizations based on patronage. They work to elect candidates to public offices that control government jobs and contracts, which, in turn, are used by party leaders (often denigrated as "bosses") to reward the sub-leaders and activists who mobilize voters for the party on election day. |
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| The practice of awarding jobs, grants, licenses, or other special favors in exchange for political support. |
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| A coalition of people who seek to control the machinery of government by winning elections. Not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. |
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| An election held before the general election in which voters decide which of a party's candidates will be the party's nominee for the general election. |
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| A period of American history extending roughly from 1880 to 1920 and associated with the reform of government and electoral institutions in an attempt to reduce corruption and weaken parties. |
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| Proportional Representation |
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| An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded to candidates or parties in proportion to the percentage of votes received. |
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| The act of voting for candidates from different parties for different offices |
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| A delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is eligible to attend because he or she is an elected party official. |
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| A political system in which only two major parties compete for all of the elective offices. |
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| Lobbying conducted by rank-and-file members of an interest group. |
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| Interest group activity that includes normal lobbying on Capitol Hill, working closely with members of Congress, and contributing money to incumbents' campaigns. |
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| Organized groups of people seeking to influence public policy. |
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| Activities through which individuals, interest groups, and other institutions seek to influence public policy by persuading government officials to support their groups' position. |
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| Professionals who work to influence public policy in favor of their clients' interests. |
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| The personal satisfactions of active self-expression through contribution or other involvement to social causes. |
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| Outsider/Indirect Tactics |
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Interest group activities designed to influence elected officials by threatening to impose political costs on them if they do not respond.
Tactics include marches, demonstrations, campaign contributions to opponents, and electoral mobilization. |
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| Political paralysis in the face of pressing national problems |
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| A group that promotes some conception of the public interest rather than the narrowly defined economic or other special interests of its members. |
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| Private goods or benefits that induce rational actors to participate in a collective effort to provide a collective good. |
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| Amorphous aggregates of people sharing general values and a desire for social change. |
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| Also known as "getting out the vote." Mobilization occurs when activists working for parties, candidates, or interest groups ask members of the electorate to vote. |
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| A theory describing a political system in which all significant social interests freely compete with one another for influence over the government's policy decisions. |
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| Political Action Committee (PAC) |
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| A federally registered fund-raising group that pools money from individuals to give to political candidates and parties. |
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1870
Race outlawed as a criteria for voting |
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1920
Women given the right to vote |
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1961
DC residents granted the right to vote |
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1964
Poll Tax is outlawed |
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1971
18-21 year olds have the right to vote |
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| Legislation requiring states to allow citizens to register to vote when applying for or renewing their drivers' license. |
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| Federal Election Campaign Act |
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1972
Encouraged groups to form Political Action Committees by clarifying their legal statues and specifying rules under which they could legitimately participate in financing campaigns. |
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