Back to AI Flashcard MakerPolitical Science /AP Gov-Unit 5 Part 2
AP Gov-Unit 5 Part 2
This deck covers key concepts and terminology from Unit 5 Part 2 of AP Government, including electoral processes, political parties, media influence, and landmark court cases.
Single member district
An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
Single member district
An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.
minor (third) party
A small political party that rises and falls with a charismatic candidate or, if composed of ideologies on the right or left, usually persists over ti...
Gerrymandering
The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent.
Baker v. Carr (1962)
Apportionment of districts must be as fair as possible “one man, one vote”
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
In a 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court ruled that the shape of the proposed district in North Carolina was bizarre enough that it could not be explained ...
bipartisan
A policy that emphasizes a united front and cooperation between the major political parties, especially on sensitive foreign policy issues.
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Single member district | An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official. |
minor (third) party | A small political party that rises and falls with a charismatic candidate or, if composed of ideologies on the right or left, usually persists over time; also called a third party. |
Gerrymandering | The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent. |
Baker v. Carr (1962) | Apportionment of districts must be as fair as possible “one man, one vote” |
Shaw v. Reno (1993) | In a 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court ruled that the shape of the proposed district in North Carolina was bizarre enough that it could not be explained as anything other than an attempt to separate voters along racial lines. |
bipartisan | A policy that emphasizes a united front and cooperation between the major political parties, especially on sensitive foreign policy issues. |
midterm election | Elections held midway between presidential elections. |
primary election | Elections in which voters determine party nominees. |
political culture | The widely shared beliefs, values, and norms about how citizens relate to governments and to one another. |
divided government | Governance divided between the parties, especially when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress. |
safe seat | Elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other, so the success of the party’s candidate is almost taken for granted. |
coattail effect | The boost that candidates may get in an election because of the popularity of candidates above them on the ballot, especially the president. |
candidate appeal | How voters feel about a candidate’s background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities. |
national tide | The inclination to focus on national issues, rather than local issues, in an election campaign. The impact of the national tide can be reduced by the nature of the candidates on the ballot who might have differentiated themselves from their party or its leader if the tide is negative, as well as competition in the election. |
name recognition | Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them, and incumbents are more recognizable. |
franking | The ability to send mail by one's signature rather than by postage. |
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act | Largely banned party soft money, restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes, and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy. |
First Amendment | Freedom of speech, assembly, petition, religion, press. |
FEC | A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. It consists of six commissioners appointed by president and confirmed by the Senate. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of campaign finance information and public funding of presidential elections, and enforcing contribution limits. |
hard money | Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amounts and fully disclosed. Raising such limited funds is harder than raising unlimited funds, hence the term. |
issue advocacy | Unlimited and undisclosed spending by an individual or group on communications that do not use words like “vote for” or “vote against,” although much of this activity is actually about electing or defeating candidates. |
527 organizations | A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election in which clearly identified candidate is referred to and a relevant electorate is targeted. |
independent expenditures | The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals, groups, and parties can spend unlimited amounts in campaigns for or against candidates as long as they operate independently from the candidates. When an individual, group, or party does so, they are making an independent expenditure. |
mass media | Means of communication that are reaching the public, including newspapers and magazines, radio, television (broadcast, cable, and satellite), films, recordings, books, and electronic communication. |
news media | Media that emphasize the news. |
political socialization | The process by which we develop our political attitudes, values, and beliefs. |
selective exposure | The process by which individuals screen out messages that do not conform to their own biases. |
selective perception | The process by which individuals perceive what they want to in media messages. |
horse-race journalism | A close contest; by extension, any contest in which the focus is on who is ahead and by how much rather than on substantive differences between the candidates. |