final Flashcards
(137 cards)
Pol participation= pol behavior= pol activity= pol engagement
activity intended to or has the consequences of affecting, either directly, or indirectly, government action
Voting, campaign contribution, town meetings, membership (or leadership) in political org, petition, boycott, buycott, marhing, demonstrating, occupying a building, riot
Electoral vs non electoral
Conventional vs unconventional (Voting and town hall vs buycotting
Old vs new)
Moderate vs extreme
(Guerilla warfare, assassination, revolutions
)
Why do individuals engage in politics?
Civic duty
Democratic freedom
Express grievances to political official
Which personal and institutional factors influence participation
Social economic status (SES)- those who are advantaged in socio economic terms- higher levels of edu, income and occupation- more likely to be politically active
Typically influences more traditional forms of political participation
2008 pres election- the more you make the more likely you will engage
150,000+ are 76% likely, 10,000 40%
Other factors that influence, but less so than ses
Edu, income, ideology, religion, trust in gov, group consciousness, mobilization, age, gender, race
Who engages in political action?
Women- on average, less engagement Minorities- less College students- less Ivy league students- more bc of SES Ivy league profs Disabled- less- harder to get there Elderly- less
political socialization
The process of acquiring political values
Political socialization is a learning process, one in which individuals absorb information
about the political work and add it, selectively, to their stock of knowledge and
understanding of politics and government
Primary means that what is learned first is learned best
Persistence means that political lessons, values and attitudes learned early in life tend to
structure political learning later on in life
Various sources contribute to political socialization
Family
o Media
o Political elites
o Social environment (college, prison, monastery, etc.)
How do we know what citizens’ think?
We find this out through public opinion, through polling individuals
public opinion
Let’s use Erikson and Tedin (2005) definition:
o “the preferences of the adult population on matters of relevance to government”
o “Public opinion is the collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public, or
groups within the public, about issues, candidates, officials, parties, and groups”
four aspects of public opinion
Salience
Stability
Direction
Intensity
Salience of an Issues
Salience indicates an issue’s importance to a person, or to the public in general
o An individual may feel that an issue is important but yet not hold a strong
preference on this issue. For an example, consider the current economy.
Stability of an issue
o Stability of an issue refers to the likelihood for this topic to shift. An issue can
rapidly intensify or become fleeting.
o The stability of an issue allows politicians to focus their efforts. If the issue is
likely to wane, then positions should implement a short term solution. If the issue
has sustaining power politicians might attempt to pass legislation or introduce
new policies.
Direction of an Issue
o The direction of a public opinion refers to whether the nation favors or opposed it.
o The direction can also be mixed or even unknown
o Overtime some issues can flip
For example: Interracial marriage
Intensity of an issue
The intensity of public opinion refers to the strength of the direction
Ex. Do you favor or oppose abortion o 5 options you can select strongly support support no opinion oppose strongly oppose
To acquire a representative sample you…
conduct a random sample
Random sample: a sample of the population in which every member of the population has
an equal chance of ending up in the sample.
An study conducted not with a random sample WILL have bias
For example: Suppose we ask: should we end social security for elderly individuals
o We expect different responses between young adults and 75 yos
If you sample individuals with the same background this likely to lead to bias. Because
that population does not reflect the true population of America
How accurate are the polls on MSNBC and FOX news?
o They are biased towards those individuals who watch their respective shows
Even in a perfect sample we are likely to still encounter problems
Human error: People make mistakes in asking questions and answering them (think
butterfly ballot in 2000 election)
o For example, the tone of voice or the phrasing of the question
Self selection: You have to ask people to take a survey… right? Maybe some individuals
are more inclined to take surveys than other individuals
Sampling Error is indicated by the margin of error
Suppose that 55 percent of respondents in a survey approved of the president’s job
performance and the survey claims a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage
points. This means that if we had spoken to the entire population, we would have found
that somewhere between 50 percent and 60 percent actual approve.
The way to improve the margin of error is to increase your sample size. Sampling 100
people is more likely to produce a larger error than sampling 5,000 individuals
There are major public opinion differences for issues on race. These differences fall along
two lines
o Race: White vs. Non-White
o Political Ideology: Conservative (Republican) vs. Liberal (Democrat)
Let’s explore the divisions of race.
divisions of race for public opinion on race
For example, why do blacks trail behind the rest of the nation or have downward
mobility?
o 29% of white Americans believe its due to poor life choices
o 14% of African Americans believe its poor life choices
o 16% of white Americans believe its due to not working hard enough
o 7% of black Americans believe its due to not working hard enough
o 12% of white Americans believe its due to reliance on government assistance
o 6% of African Americans believe its due to reliance on government assistance
Survey Question: Which comes closest to your view of immigrants today?
o In 2016, 78% of democrats say immigrants strengthen the country though hard
work and talents while only 30% of republicans feel this way
o In 2016, on 41% of silent generation and 76% of millennial; overtime younger
generations are more accepting of immigrants while the older generation has a
harder time
Survey Question: Discrimination as a barrier to blacks getting ahead
o In 1994, dems and republicans had similar opinions
o Now 64% of dems versus 14% of the GOP agree that discrimination is the biggest
barrier to getting ahead
Institutional barriers to voting
Poll taxes- fee paid before registering to vote
Used primarily in southern states, they could determine how much to charge to make sure blacks could not afford
Literacy test- required citizens to demonstrate the ability to read and interpret docu such as state or federal constitution. Many states whites were exempt from taking the test if their grandparents had voted (grandfather clause
Democratic party restrictions- no voting in democratic primary and democratic eligibility
Civil rights act 1957 (what is says about voting)
attorney general can seek court injunctions on behalf of individuals whose right to vote had been interfered with on the basis of race
1965 VRA
federal crime to threaten, intimidate, or coerce people to prevent them from exercising their right to vote. Attempting to threaten, intimidate, or coerce people to prevent them from voting was also considered a crime
Impact that changed access to vote
Allowed for non-english speaking citizens to vote
But just bc they were allowed, doesn’t mean the systems were in place that allowed them to do so
1975 amendments- congress heard testimony about discrim against hispanic, asian, native american, citizens and 1975 amendments added protection from voting discrim
Gerrymandering-
roots
the good, the bad, the ugly
Roots come from governor gerry of massachusetts who wanted to defeat the federalist party so cut e district up in a way that would get him votes. Looked like salamander
Ex chicago district 4 is some crazy shit- 2 main areas that are connected through slim lines
The good
Known to lead to an increase in minority representation
The bad
Violates two basic tenets of electoral apportionment- Compactness and equality of size of constituencies
1964 scotus ruling states districts house be drawn to reflect substantial equality of populations
The ugly
Contentious racial debates- the best way to increase voting and the likelihood for someone to be elected
Takeaway- can be used to do both:
Isolate racial and ethnic minorities to create non-minority congressional districts
Cluster minority to create majority minority districts
So either increase or decrease the likelihood of minority representative being voted into office
Reapportionment
allocation of seats within a state on the basis of populations within each congressional district, with each district containing roughly 700,000 persons
Redistricting
divide districts and establish new boundaries
Blacks and latinos constantly undercounted
1990 census- 4.8% of black pop and 5.2% latino pop not counted
Census agreed to employ statistical sampling as means of counting those persons often missed by traditional methods of counting
Repubs opposed to this measure