Term
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Definition
TO= (probability you will affect the result x perceived benefit of electing preferred candidate) – cost = (p x b) –c
underlying assumption is that people are utility maximizers |
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Term
| mini-max regret theory of voting |
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Definition
| people try to minimize the chance of the worst case scenario |
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Term
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Definition
| voters continuously evaluate the performance of the political parties, especially the president's party. Voters use the evaluation of past performance as an indicator of future performance and they take this retrospective assessment into account in making their vote choices (Fiorina) |
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Term
| 5 factors that result in differing levels of interest from presidential elections, to congressional elections to local elections |
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Definition
1. differences in media coverage given the election
2. significance attached by voters to the office
3. Importance of issues raised in the campaign
4. Attractiveness of the candidates
5. Competitiveness of the contest |
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Term
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Definition
| the extent to which individuals are socially integrated into their communities (Teixeira) |
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Term
| "political connectedness" |
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Definition
| the degree to which people feel interested and involved in government and belie government is concerned and responsive to them. (Teixeira) |
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Term
| Proximate theory of voting |
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Definition
| people vote for the candidate that is closest to them |
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Term
| Directional theory of voting |
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Definition
| people vote for whichever candidate they believe is on the correct side of the issue (doesn't explain empirical reality very well) |
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Term
| Pocket-book theory of voting |
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Definition
| Voters are going to reward officials that they associate with them being better off than before |
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Term
| Socio-tropic theory of voting |
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Definition
| similar to pocketbook but instead of looking at their own well-being they look at the well-being of the country as a whole in determining who they are going to vote for |
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Term
| Gut-level reasoning theory of voting |
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Definition
| voters use small pieces of information to try to construct a reasonable vote choice |
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Term
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Definition
| Elections are not about candidates trying to position themselves in the center, actually candidates try to convince voters which issues are most important |
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Term
| The Three kinds of Presidential Primary Races |
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Definition
1.2 giants- 2 very very well known national candidates (momentum effects are going to be very small)
2.1 and 1/2 candidates- ine dominant front runner and one well known candidate (modest momementum effects)
3.7 dwarfs- a group of unknowns (the winners in these groups get a huge bump in the polls (11-12 points)) |
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Term
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Definition
1. a candidates relative standing in the national party polls before the voting in primaries starts
2. the relative success of the candidate to raise money before the election year |
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Term
| Mayer's 5 arguments about primaries |
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Definition
1. the presidential nomination process is unusually favorable to front runners
2. as a factor in the nomination process momentum is greatly overrated
3. Front-runners may make mistakes and stuble but their mistakes are hardly never fatal
4. The longer we live under the current system the more we learn about it, and this works to the advantage of front-runners
5.Money helps but is definitely not the whole game. |
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Term
| 4 defenses individuals use against the potential dissonance presented by new information that conflicts with existing attitudes |
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Definition
1.Selective exposure (not paying attention to it)
2.Selective perception (misinterpreting information or rejecting the sources)
3.Compartmentalization- not making the connection between dissonant attitudes
4.Rationalization- developing an unwarranted interpretation of a situation to avoid confronting the real one. |
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