AP GoPo - Public Opinion and Political Action

the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues

the science of population changes

an “actual enumeration“ of the population, which the constitution requires that the government conduct every 10 years

a term often used to characterize the united states, with its history of immigration and mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples

an overall set of values widely shared within a society

the process of reallocating seats in the house of representatives every 10 years based on census results

the process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on input from family, schools, the media, and others

a relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

the key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected

the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. the more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results

a technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision

a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

the regular pattern in which women are more likely to support democratic candidates, in part because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

all the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue.

a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics

a form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences