Chaper 8 Flashcards
Retrospective voting
Voting for or against a candidate or party on the basis of past performance in office
Mandate (election)
Perception of popular support for a program or policy based on the margin of electoral victory won buy a candidate who proposed it during a campaign
Incumbent
Candidates currently in office seeking reelection
name recognition
Public awareness of a political candidate–whether they are familiar with his or her name
Challengers
In politics, a reference to people running against incumbent officeholders
Franking privilege
Free use of the US mails granted to members of Congress to promote communication with constituents
PAC-political action committees
Organizations that solicit and receive campaign contributions from corporations, unions, trade associations, and ideological and issue oriented groups and their members, and then distribute these funds to political candidates
FEC-Federal election commission
Agency charged with enforcing federal election laws and disbursing public presidential campaign funds
Front-end strategy
Presidential political campaign strategy in which a candidate focuses on winning early primaries to build momentum
Big-state strategy
Presidential political campaign strategy in which a candidate focuses on winning primaries in large states because of their high delegate counts
Front loading
The scheduling of presidential primary elections early in the year
Electoral College
The 538 presidential electors apportioned among the states according to their congressional representation (+3 for the District of Columbia) whose votes officially elect the president and vice president of the United States
Swing states
States that are not considered to be firmly in the Democratic or Republican column
