Terms : Hide Images
| 161411701 | Attentive public | Those who follow politics and public affairs carefully. | |
| 161411702 | Australian ballot | Secret ballot printed at the expense of the state. | |
| 161411703 | Balancing the ticket | Occurs when a presidential nominee chooses a vice presidential running mate who has different qualities in order to attract more votes for the ticket. | |
| 161411704 | Blanket primary | Election to choose candidate that is open to independent and that allows voters to choose candidates from all the parties. | |
| 161411705 | Caucus | Local party meetings. | |
| 161411706 | Closed primary | Party election to choose candidates that is closed to independents. Voters may not cross party lines. | |
| 161411707 | Coattail effect | The influence of a popular presidential candidate on the election on congressional candidates of the same party. | |
| 161411708 | Demographics | Characteristics of populations, e.g. race, sex, income. | |
| 161411709 | Direct election | Election of an official directly by the people rather than by an intermediary group such as the Electoral College. | |
| 161411710 | Direct primary | Election in which the people choose candidates for office. | |
| 161411711 | Fixed terms | Terms of office that have a definite length of time, e.g., two years for a member of the House. | |
| 161411712 | Front loading | Scheduling presidential primary elections early (e.g., February or March) in an election year. | |
| 161411713 | Gender gap | Difference in voting patterns for men and women, particularly in the greater tendency of the latter to vote for Democratic presidential candidates. | |
| 161411714 | General election | Election in which the officeholders are chosen. Contrast with the primary election in which only the candidates are chosen. | |
| 161411715 | Hard money | Campaign contributions donated directly to candidates. | |
| 161411716 | Ideology | Set of beliefs about political values and the role of government. | |
| 161411717 | Incumbent | An officeholder who is seeking reelection. | |
| 161411718 | Independent | One who is not registered with a political party. INDEPENDENT LEANERS tend to vote for candidates of one political party, whereas PURE INDEPENDENTS have no consistent pattern of party voting. | |
| 161411719 | Issue advocacy ads | Ads that focus on issues and do not explicitly encourage citizens to vote for a certain candidate. | |
| 161411720 | Open primary | Election to choose candidates that is open to independents, and in which voters may choose candidates from any one party. | |
| 161411721 | Party identification | A sense of affiliation that a person has with a particular political party. | |
| 161411722 | Party platform | A list of positions and programs that the party adopts at the national convention. Each position is called a plank. | |
| 161411723 | Political culture | The widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that citizens share about their government. | |
| 161411724 | Plurality | More votes that anyone else, but less than half, e.g. Clinton won a plurality (43%) of popular votes in 1992, but not the majority. PLURALITY ELECTIONS such as those for Congress are won by the person with the most votes, regardless if he/she has a majority. | |
| 161411725 | Political efficacy | Capacity to understand and influence political events. | |
| 161411726 | Political socialization | Process in which one acquires his/her political beliefs. | |
| 161411727 | Realigning "critical" election | An election in which there is a long term change in party alignment, e.g., 1932 | |
| 161411728 | Safe seat | An office that is extremely likely to be won by a particular candidate or political party. | |
| 161411729 | Single member district system | System in which the people elect one representative per district. With a winner-take-all rule, this system strengthens the two major parties and weakens minor parties. | |
| 161411730 | Soft money | Campaign contributions that are not donated directly to candidates, but are instead donated to parties. | |
| 161411731 | Solid South | Historically, the South voted solidly Democratic. However, the South is now strongly Republican: Bush carried every Southern state in 2000. | |
| 161411732 | Split ticket voting | Casting votes for candidates of one's own party and for candidates of opposing parties, e.g., voting Republican presidential candidate and a Democratic congressional candidate. | |
| 161411733 | Straight ticket voting | Casting votes only for candidates of one's party. | |
| 161411734 | Suffrage | The right to vote. | |
| 161411735 | Superdelegate | A delegate to the Democratic national convention who is there by virtue of holding an office. | |
| 161411736 | Super Tuesday | A Tuesday in early March in which many presidential primaries, particularly in the South, are held. | |
| 161411737 | Swing state | A state that does not consistently vote either Democratic or Republican in presidential elections. |
