AP Gov Unit 5 Vocab

• Federal Election Campaign Act - law that created limits on PAC and individual donations to political candidates

• Monitored by FEC

• No limits on support not directly linked candidate - referred to as independent expenditures

Channels that connect individuals with government

• Elections, political parties, interest groups and the media

prohibits Congress and the States from imposing poll taxes as a condition for voting in federal elections

allows those 18 years old and older to vote

voting for candidates who belong only to one political party for all of the offices on the ballot

• Voters do not cast ballots directly for the president

• Voting for a slate of electors pledged to vote for a nominee

• Candidate needs 270 votes to win out of 538 total

• Candidates do not need to win the popular vote

• Candidate that receives the most votes at the state level wins all

of the electoral votes for that state

• Electors are chosen from party leaders and activists

Candidate that receives the most votes at the state level wins all of the electoral votes for that state

a state where the polls show a close contest between the Republican and Democratic candidate in a presidential election

A State where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and Republicans

An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinating with a campaign

Voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party

Vote for candidates of more than one party

a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to

• Voted on at the convention

• When they win, they begin the process of governing based largely on the shared

platform

the formal process through which parties candidates for office

a person who acts as the voters representative at a convention to select the party’s nominee

an election in which a state's voters choose delegates who support a presidential candidate for nomination or an election by a plurality vote to select a party’s nominee for a seat in Congress

all eligible voters may vote, regardless of their party affiliation

only those who have registered as a member of a political party may vote

Parties have more flexibility on dates and how to award delegates

Usually, a party leader or activist who is not pledged to a candidate based on the outcome of the state’s primary or caucus

• Prominent at Democratic convention since the 1980s

a system in which two political parties dominate politics, winning almost all elections

an electoral system for a legislature in which citizens vote for parties, rather than individuals, and parties are represented in the legislature according to the percentage of the vote they receive

The candidate who gets more votes than any other candidate is declared the winner.

A minor political party in competition with two major parties

voluntary associations of people who come together with the goal of getting the policies that they favor enacted

advocate on behalf of the financial interest of their members

act on the behalf of the collective interests of a broad group of individuals

associations focusing on one specific area of public policy, often a moral issue about which they are unwilling to compromise

organizations acting on behalf of local, state, or foreign governments

Interacting with government officials to advance a groups public policy goals

the coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals

mobilizing interest groups members to pressure their representatives by contacting them directly through phone calls, emails, and social media

a broad term that includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social media postings that cover important events

forms of electronic communication that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

the slanting of political news coverage in support of a particular party or ideology

– focus on the latest polls, emphasizing the drama of who is winning

– coverage of political campaigns that focuses more on the drama of the campaign than on policy issues.

– May lead to Americans not knowing anything substantial about the policy agendas of candidates