Chapter 8
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Created by:
thsbiology on May 3, 2008
Classes:
AP U.S. Government and Politics
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16 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Closed Primary | A primary election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from crossing over to influence the nomination of an opposing party's candidate. |
| coattails | The tendency of lesser-known or weaker candidates to profit in an election by the presence on the ticket of a more popular candidate. |
| Gerrymandering | Drawing the boundaries of political districts in bizarre or unusual shapes to make it easy for candidates of the party in power to win elections in those districts. |
| incumbent | The person currently in office |
| Independent Expenditure | Spending by political action committees on political matters that is done directly and not by giving money to a candidate or party. |
| Office-bloc ballot | A ballot listing all candidates for a given office under the name of that office; also called a "Massachusetts" ballot. |
| Party-column ballot | A ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the name of that party; also called an "Indiana" ballot. See also Office-bloc ballot |
| Political action committee (PAC) | A committee set up by and representing a corporation, labor union, or special-interest group that raises and spends campaign contributions on behalf of one or more candidates or causes. |
| Position issue | An issue dividing the electorate on which rival parties adopt different policy positions to attract voters. |
| Open primary | A primary election that permits voters to choose on election day the primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party. |
| Prospective voting | Voting for a candidate because one favors his or her ideas for addressing issues after the election. |
| Retrospective voting | Voting for or against the candidate or party in office because one likes or dislikes how things have gone in the recent past. |
| Runoff primary | A second primary election held in some states when no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the first primary; it is between the two candidates with the most votes. common in the South. |
| Soft money | Funds solicited from individuals, corporations, and unions that are spent on party activities, such as voter-registration campaigns and voting drives, rather than on behalf of a specific candidate. These funds need not be reported to the Federal Election Commission. |
| Valence issue | An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions, goals, or symbols the electorate universally approves or disapproves of. Examples of such issues are economic prosperity and political corruption. |
| Blanket primary | A primary election that permits all voters, regardless of party, to choose candidates. A Democratic voter, for example, can vote for both Democratic and Republican candidates for nomination. |
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