Unit 2 American Gov

Anmerkungen:

• all stats come from the 2012 US presidential election

1. Political Socialization
   1. Socialization: the process by which people learn the standards of acceptable behavior in a society
      1. Values: abstract ideas about what is right, desirable, important, good
         1. Norms: shared standards of desirable behavior (what is normal)

            Anmerkungen:

            • Not necessarily judgement, just acknowledgment of inconsistency 
            1. Mores: pronounced “mo-rays” behaviors that have a moral component attached to them

               Anmerkungen:

               • (the stem for the word “morals” 
               1. Symbols: commonly understood gestures, words, signs that stand for something else

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • Flags, hand gestures, things on clothing
      2. Context is important
         1. the standards of acceptable behavior may differ from society to society and culture to culture

            Anmerkungen:

            • Interpretations depend on context and other factors
      3. Agents of Socialization
         1. Family

            Anmerkungen:

            • (probably most, spend time with them, pick up ideas as a young kid… ) Some families talk abt politics
            1. Peers
               1. Formal edu
                  1. Media
                     1. Religious institutions

                        Anmerkungen:

                        • In US, role of religion in ppl’s lives has decreased dramatically (often ppl identify as background, don’t practice) Stereotypically, more south
                     2. Mass media - means of communication that reach large, highly dispersed audiences simultaneously (TV, website… a lot of people see)
                        1. Pundit: influence who is not a gov official (talk show host, celebrity, even a TV character that expresses their opinions)
   2. How we come to associate with issues, positions, parties, behaviors related to govt and politics Come to views or lack thereof
      1. Influences are the same as general cultural socialization
2. Political Ideology and the Political Spectrum
   1. Ideology: any set of ideas, beliefs, or values
      1. political ideology relates to the ideas about what is right/good/desirable in a govt

         Anmerkungen:

         • Part of any discussion on political ideology focuses on the ways that parties form, how they are similar and different
         1. Political parties represent different ideologies and are often described and compared as being on a spectrum
   2. Authoritarian— strong governmental control. Regulation of citizen behavior, rights, actions. Emphasizes the “collective” over the individual.
      1. Libertarian— small/no government, strong individual rights without regulation. Emphasizes individual rights/liberties.
         1. Communism—strong government regulation of the economy (e.g. working hours, wages, production, etc.)
            1. Laissez faire— no government involvement in the economy. Free market self-regulation.
   4. at first, additonal positions represented like this:

      Anmerkungen:

      • libertarian further right than fascism because it has more individual freedoms
   5. remeber, here authoritarian and libertarian mean in regards to social issues, NOT the economy
   6. liberal

      Anmerkungen:

      • both have some degree of hypocrisy 
      1. Gov programs to help poor, unemployed, elderly, children
         1. Gov regulation of business

            Anmerkungen:

            • consumer and environmental protection, minimum wage
            1. say have opportunity, make best of where u are, can get there too
               1. social work, prevention, and rehabilitation of criminals

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • because See crime as symptom of broader disease (social condition has created this-- mental health, poverty)
                  1. Strong diplomacy and international cooperation
                     1. Gun control
                        1. Clear separation of church and state
                           1. Pro choice
                              1. Environmental protection
   7. conservative

      Anmerkungen:

      • both have some degree of hypocrisy: personal freedom except when conflicts w/ values of religion
      1. Prefer individual charity to gov intervention, ppl taken care of within their communities

         Anmerkungen:

         • Churches.. Pre-new deal, poor ppl in towns helped (reliant on Judeo-Christianity, others)
         1. Free market control

            Anmerkungen:

            • business self regulation Poor conservatives: their choice to be conservative (?? not rlly party affiliation) more related to other issues (rights)
            1. Gov policy to enforce equality for social groups
               1. Crime prevention and punishment

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • (crime is a choice)... no one did this for you (some poor ppl steal, some don’t)
                  1. Strong national defense
                     1. Gun rights
                        1. OK w/ prayer in schools, public meetings

                           Anmerkungen:

                           • here,  Usually about christianity: in other places, conservatives can have different majority religion
                           1. Pro life

                              Anmerkungen:

                              • (socially conservative, some fiscal conservatives that don’t care)
                              1. Environmental regulations stifle business
   8. MERITOCRACY
   9. can be socially one, fiscally another
      1. Social conservatives: based on religion (pro-life, anti-same sex marriage)
         1. Fiscal conservatives: low taxes, small gov (care about gov): not always care about or have conservative views on social issues such as abortion
3. Public: everyone in general
   1. can be broken down by category
   2. Public opinion relates only to public affairs
      1. Public affairs: politics, public issues, and the making of public policies
         1. worldly things: national defense, unemployment, candidates, political parties, welfare programs, taxes
      2. how is public opinion measured?
         1. Election results are said to be indicators of public opinion

            Anmerkungen:

            • However, election results are rarely an accurate measure of public opinion because... 1. Choices people make don’t necessarily have anything to do with the candidate’s view on issues 2. Candidates often disagree with parts of their party’s “platform” 3. Candidates and political parties often express their positions in “broad, generalized” terms
            1. Mandate - the instructions or commands a constituency gives to its elected officials
         2. Interest groups: private organizations whose members share certain views and objectives, and who work to shape the making and content of public policy

            Anmerkungen:

            • Public officials have a hard time determining… How many people are really represented by an interest group? How strongly do those supposedly represented by interest groups really hold their views?
            1. Present their views (exert pressure) through letters, telephone calls, their letters, emails, in political campaigns, and more
         3. STRAW VOTES Ex: when a radio talk show host ask questions that anyone can answer by calling in
            1. Straw polls are unreliable. The people who respond are self-selected; consequently, the sample of people who respond to the polls will probably not accurately represent the whole US population

               Anmerkungen:

               • silent majority...
         4. Scientific polling
            1. Serious efforts to make polls scientific, more reliable, more research based
               1. Universe - the pool that a poll aims to interview or measure

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • It could be all voters in a city, students, all protestant men in indiana, more (an amount of specific/vague)
                  1. Sample - a representation on the total universe
                     1. Random sample - a pool composed of randomly selected people. All members of the universe stand an equal chance of being interviewed
               2. Have difficulty measuring intensity, stability, and relevance of opinions

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • Intensity is the strength of feeling Stability is the relative changeableness of an opinion Relevance is how important a particular opinion is to a person who holds it
               3. polls/pollsters are said to shape the opinion they measure pollsters create a bandwagon effect

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • connects to timezone fallout
      3. The media play a role in determining public opinion
      4. Public officials have frequent contact with large numbers of people in many different forms: as their job demands, they must try to “read the public’s mind”

         Anmerkungen:

         • Congress people receive tons of mail (physical mail, phone calls, email): have to try to respond, along with making trips “back home” Top Administrative figures (even the president!) go places selling the president’s programs and seeing how people react Governors, state legislators, mayors all have any number of contacts with the public See the public in offices, public meetings, social gatherings, community events (even sports)
4. VOTING TRENDS
   1. Five options in a race with 2 candidates

      Anmerkungen:

      • For candidate A Against candidate A For candidate B Against candidate B Not voting at all
   2. Voting is an important responsibility of citizenship:
      1. (get indirect influence over the decisions that will be made)
         1. Also, candidates tend to pay more attention/create policies that are more favorable towards groups that actually show up to vote

            Anmerkungen:

            • Ie: less policies supposed to appeal to illegal immigrants, because they can’t vote
   3. FACTORS CAUSING NONVOTING
      1. Off year elections: congressional elections held in the even numbered years between presidential elections

         Anmerkungen:

         • Consistently higher rates for congressional elections in presidential years
         1. same for states in terms of types of elections…

            Anmerkungen:

            • More in general elections: main elections where the winner is decided Less in primary elections: when political parties nominate who will run in the general election (usually, independents cannot vote) Also less in special elections
         2. Ballot fatigue: As a general rule, the farther down the ballot an office is (federal vs state vs local), the fewer the number of votes that will be cast for it

            Anmerkungen:

            • Seems to show that Voters exhaust their patience/knowledge going further down the ballot
            1. Lack of political efficacy: Convinced their vote wouldn’t make any real difference

               Anmerkungen:

               • Political efficacy: any feeling of having influence or effectiveness in politics
               1. Convinced whoever wins in an election wouldn’t make any real difference

                  Anmerkungen:

                  • Some have general approval of current politics: believe that, whoever wins, things will continue to go well (for each nonvoter personally + the country as a whole) others “alienated, cynical, and distrustful” of current political processes/institutions: view “the system” with hatred or fear: think elections are without choice or meaning
                  1. 3.5 million say too busy

                     Anmerkungen:

                     • Distractions: social media, TV, new technologies Work: long distance commutes or putting in long (or extra) hours
                     1. Cumbersome election processes

                        Anmerkungen:

                        • Long ballots, long lines at polling places, inconvenient registration requirements, bad weather
                        1. Timezone fallout

                           Anmerkungen:

                           • Controversial… Polls in eastern/midwestern states take place before those in western states, and news media tends to projects outcome of presidential election before westerners have a chance to vote: some say discourages voting
                           1. Nature of Modern Campaigns

                              Anmerkungen:

                              • Polls show many americans become disgusted with entire voting process due to a dislike of negative campaigning (slander) Media makes candidates seem horrible by the time of the election by seizing onto every scandal… people less enthusiastic about candidates
                              1. Lack of Interest

                                 Anmerkungen:

                                 • say they either forgot to vote or were not interested Mostly, just do not know about politics, the election process, or the candidates Some argue this is a good thing (democratic process well served…)
      2. Cannot Voters
         1. 20 million illegal immigrants
            1. 2-3 million too physically disabled or ill
               1. 1-2 million traveling unexpectedly
                  1. 3 million ineligible because in jail or prison, parole or probation

                     Anmerkungen:

                     • in FL, anyone w/ a criminal record cannot vote
                     1. Possibly as much as 1 million who abstained due to religion: some religions think voting is an act of idolatry
                        1. racial/religious/other biases still prevent voting, by Actual election laws or “Informal” local pressures of the same
      3. Millions of nonvoters among those who vote: people who voted during the presidential election, but did not choose congresspeople at that time
   4. FACTORS INFLUENCING VOTERS
      1. Sociological factors: pieces of a voter’s social/economic life; 2 kinds
         1. Personal characteristics: age race, income, occupation, education, religion…
            1. Income and occupation
               1. Edu
                  1. gender
                     1. age
                        1. religion
                           1. ethnic background
                              1. geography
                                 1. dem
                                    1. northeast, some west
                                    2. big cities
                                 2. repub
                                    1. south, west, midwest
                                    2. most suburbs, smaller cities and rural areas
         2. Group affiliations: family, coworkers, friends…
            1. 9/10 married couples share same partisan leanings
               1. 2:3 kids follow political attachments of parents
                  1. friends/co workers also tend to vote alike Ppl of similar socioeconomic backgrounds tend to associate together
      2. these 2 categories are very closely related
      3. Psychological factors: how a voter views politics; how they see the issues, the parties and the candidates of an election
         1. Party Identification
            1. most ppl in US identify w/ party-- many keep same party entire life, vote on party w/o considering candidates or issues

               Anmerkungen:

               • best identifier of how someone will vote is the party they identify with
               1. Means political parties can count on votes
                  1. however, becoming less dependable now...
                     1. Parties themselves weaker
                        1. Split ticket voting common now
                           1. More independents

                              Anmerkungen:

                              • However, many independents actually vote more often for candidates of one major party they are important in elections where the candidates are fairly evenly matched in terms of popularity
         2. Candidates and Issues

            Anmerkungen:

            • short term determiners of voting
            1. How candidate perceived is important: image projected, personality, character, style appearance, past record, abilities?
            2. Role of Issues in an election varies based on how informed ppl are about thm, emotional content, how candidates present them to the electorate

               Anmerkungen:

               • Recent years, more pressing issues has lead to higher voter concern 
5. shaping public opinion
   1. social media
      1. product placements
         1. Marketing and advertising campaigns
            1. bandwagon
               1. glittering generalities
                  1. card stacking
                     1. transfer
                        1. name calling
                           1. plain folks
                              1. testimonials
                                 1. fear