Study Guide, PLSI 200.11, Spring 2007

 

The PLSI 200.11 final exam will be on Wednesday, May 23rd, from 4:10 to 6:55.  It is not cumulative.  Here are some terms you should be familiar with. You are also responsible for the assigned readings and the topics covered in lecture.  Please bring a Zeus scantron sheet, a pencil, and a picture ID to the exam. 

 

Voting turnout

Ways of calculating turnout

Turnout in different types of elections

Voting age population

Voting eligible population

Registered voters

Registered v. non-registered population

Political socialization

Young voters

Political trust

Political efficacy

Vote choice

Columbia Model (Sociological)

Michigan Model (Psychological)

Rational Actor (Economic)

Sociotropic (aspects of the economy)

On-Line (Cognitive Psych)

Political parties

Party in the electorate

Party in government

Party Organization

Changing nature of parties over time

Declining party power

Four functions of parties (see Wasserman)

Responsible Party systems

Partisanship (decline or stability)

Election systems

San Francisco district system

Majority runoff system

Instant runoff voting (IRV)

Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

Benefits and drawbacks of RCV

Comparing election systems

            Plurality, first-past-the-post

            Majority runoff

            Instant-runoff

Measuring public opinion

Random samples

SLOP polls

Push polls

Reputable firms

Estimates, margins of error

Comparing results across firms

Comparing results over time

Polarized public opinion

Red and blue states

Myth of polarization

Distortion in maps

Moderate nature of public

Congress v. the public

Interest groups

Types of interest groups

Lobbying

Money and politics

Growth in the amount of money in campaigns

1971 Fed. Elec. Campaign Act. (FECA)

2002 Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (BCRA, or McCain-Feingold)

Campaign contributions and free speech

Hard money

Soft money

PACs

527s

Media and politics

Changing media

Sources of political information

Technology

Satellite, Cable, Internet, Blogs

Consolidation of ownership

Symbiotic relationship

Three models of media effects

            Hypodermic needle model

            Minimal effects model

            Limited effects model

Agenda setting

Framing