1. plurality - more votes than the opponent
2. majority - more than half of the votes
3. coalition - an alliance
4. patronage - giving jobs or special favors to party
workers
5. precinct - an area that contains a specific number of
voters
6. political machine - local party organization that tries
to control elections
7. platform - the complete goals and philosophy of a
political party
8. plank - each item within the party’s list of goals
9. grassroots movement - a political movement that begins
with the people
10. partisan - believing strongly in one party or the other
11. bipartisan - working with members of the other party
12. nonpartisan - no allegiance to either party (being
neutral)
13. electorate - people eligible to vote
14. apathy - lack of interest
15. caucus - a meeting of political party members to
conduct business
16. primary election - held among party members to nominate
candidates to run for office
17. closed primary - type of primary in which only party
members can vote
18. open primary - type of primary in which any registered
voter can vote
19. propaganda - an attempt to promote a particular idea or
candidate
20. political action committee (PAC) - organizations
established by corporations, labor unions, etc. to raise money for
candidates who support their issues
21. canvassing - taking polls to find out how citizens
think about issues or candidates
22. straight ticket voting - voting for candidates of 1
party
23. split ticket voting - voting for candidates of
different parties
24. popular vote - votes cast directly by the people (Gore won
this vote in 2000)
25. initiative - citizens obtaining signatures to get ideas
on the ballot
26. proposition - an idea put onto the ballot by citizens
27. referendum - the legislature puts an idea on the ballot
to citizens to approve
28. biased - one-sided point of view
29. impartial - considering all points of view
30. lobbyist - people that work for interest groups to
persuade members of government to vote for the groups ideas
|
B 1. “Al Gore is just
a typical tax-and-spend liberal.” E 2. “As governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton worked to spend $20
billion on education.” C 3. “Since I came from a middle-class
family, I am
prepared to go to Washington to fight for middle
class North Carolinians.” D 4. “Every day, President Bush re-reads the Declaration
of Independence for inspiration.” A 5. “John Edwards can restore real leadership to the
office of President.” |
A. glittering
generality B. name-calling C. just plain
folks D. symbols E. stacked cards F. bandwagon G. endorsement |
|
|
Two Party |
Multi Party |
One Party |
|
Advantages |
-
stability -
parties stay near the center on most issues so
they can attract a large number of voters -
relative smooth transitions from one party to
another |
-
more choice for voters -
more views are represented in government |
-
less gridlock since there is only 1 party (no
compromise necessary) -
little work required of voters |
|
Disadvantages |
-
shuts out views of minor parties -
media focuses too much on major parties |
-
fragmented power in government; no party gains a
majority and coalitions must be formed; these coalitions are usually unstable
– they break up quite easily -
more effort from the voters; they have to sift
through more information b/c there are more parties & candidates |
-
no choice for voters -
greater chance for abuse of power since there is
no alternate party for the people to choose |
Spring: primaries or caucuses held in
each state - the winner
of each state’s primary gets that state’s
votes at the national convention held during the summer
ddd
Summer: national nominating convention -
delegates from each state meet to cast their votes for the party’s nominee -
the nominee selects his/her running mate
July-November: national campaign; election day -
voters cast popular vote -
the winner of the popular vote in each state gets all of the state’s electoral votes (2
exceptions) -
mid to late December: presidential electors officially cast their votes for president -
electors cast a separate vote for President & VP (12th Amendment)
a. candidate spends focus too heavily on the largest states
b. candidate wins presidency if he/she wins the 11 largest states
a. (happened 3 times in history; last time in
2000)