Public Opinion and Political Action

332826380	Public Opinion	The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues
332826381	Demography	The science of population changes
332826382	Census	A valuable tool for understanding demographic changes. The Constitution requires that the government conduct an "actual enumeration" of the population every ten years
332826383	Melting Pot	The mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation
332826384	Minority Majority	The emergence of a non-Caucasian majority, as compared with a White, generally Anglo-Saxon majority
332826385	Political Culture	An overall set of values widely shared with a society
332826386	Reapportionment	The process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every ten years on the basis of the results of the census
332826387	Political Socialization	The process through which an individual acquires his [or her] particular political orientations- his [or her] knowledge, feelings, and evaluations regarding his [or her] political world
332826388	Sample	A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole
332826389	Random Sampling	The key technique employed by sophisticated survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample
332826390	Sampling Error	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
332826391	Random-Digit Dialing	A technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey
332826392	Exit Poll	Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision
332826393	Political Ideology	A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, and policies
332826394	Gender Gap	A term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Women tend to be significantly less conservative than men and are more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending
332826395	Political Participation	All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue
332826396	Protest	A form of political participation designed to achieve policy chance through dramatic and unconventional tactics
332826397	Civil Disobedience	A form of political participation that reflects conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences