voting rights, turnout, and voting behavior Flashcards
What is political participation?
The different ways in which individuals take action to shape the laws and policies of a government.
What is a political action committee?
An organization that raises money to elect and defeat candidates and may donate money directly to a candidate’s campaign, subject to limits.
What is a linkage institution?
Channels that connect individuals with government, including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.
What is a social movement?
The joining of individuals seeking social or political change with the goal of placing issues on the policy agenda.
What is franchise (or suffrage)?
The right to vote.
What does the Twenty-Sixth Amendment allow?
It allows those eighteen years old and older to vote.
What does the Twenty-Fourth Amendment prohibit?
It prohibits Congress and the states from imposing poll taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections.
What is voter turnout?
The number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a percentage of the total number of eligible voters.
What are demographic characteristics?
Measurable characteristics of a population, such as economic status, education, age, race or ethnicity, and gender.
What is socioeconomic status (SES)?
A measure of an individual’s wealth, income, occupation, and educational attainment.
What is political efficacy?
A person’s belief that he or she can make effective political change.
What is political mobilization?
Efforts by political parties to encourage their members to vote.
What are registration requirements?
The set of rules that govern who can vote and how, when, and where they vote.
What is an absentee ballot?
Voting completed and submitted by a voter before the day of an election without going to the polls.
What is rational choice voting?
Voting based on what a citizen believes is in his/her best interest.
What is retrospective voting?
Voting based on an assessment of an incumbent’s past performance.
What is prospective voting?
Casting a ballot for a candidate who promises to enact policies favored by the voter in the future.
What is party-line voting?
Voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot.
What is the electoral college?
A constitutionally required process for selecting the president through slates of electors chosen in each state, who are pledged to vote for a nominee in the presidential election.
What is winner-take-all?
A system of election in which the candidate who wins the plurality of votes within a state receives all of that state’s votes in the electoral college.
What is a battleground state?
A state where the polls show a close contest between the Republican and Democratic candidates in a presidential election.
What is a swing state?
A state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans.
What is get out the vote (GOTV)?
Efforts to mobilize supporters.
What is a super PAC?
An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign.
