1. Political Theories and Beliefs

2. Political Theory and Beliefs and their influence on individuals (10-20 percent) Elitist, pluralist, and hyperpluralist Views that people have about government and their elected officials Characteristics and impact of public opinion Voting patterns of citizens Characterizes of political beliefs and the differences between liberals and conservatives.

3.  Political Culture – Set of political beliefs and values that makeup part of a society  Political Socialization – How people acquire their political beliefs  Family – Most important/greatest factor  Education  Social Groups  Almost every AP test has had a question about political socialization.

4.  Ideology – How you feel on political issues  Conservatives – Mostly Republican  Support: (There are many others)  Increase Military  Free-Market/less government  Gun Rights  Liberal – Mostly Democrats  Support: (There are many others)  Greater government regulations  Expanded welfare programs  Abortion Rights  Libertarian – People should do what ever they want as long as their actions don’t harm anyone, and the government should do very little.  Remember Most People are Moderates

5.  Straw Polls – polling where you basically just take survey of group of people  It isn’t reliable because there isn’t a large cross-section of the population (Literary Digest)  No poll is 100% accurate because there is always a margin of error, which is created by sampling error, or other ways in which the poll was conducted.  Saliency – Degree to which something is important  Intensity – How strongly people feel about an issue  Stability – How often people change their opinions

6.  Voting Rights  Originally usually only White Property Owners over 21 could vote  By the time Jackson became president property restrictions were lifted.  15 th Amendment - gives African Americans the right to vote  19 th Amendment - gives women the right to vote  23 rd Amendment - Washingon D.C. can vote in presidential elections  24 th Amendment - poll taxes eliminated  Voting Rights Act - makes it easier for African Americans to register to vote. (No Literacy Tests, Federal government can monitor states in the south to make sure they do this.  26 th Amendment - lowers voting age to 18.

7.  Only about half of eligible voters vote in presidential elections, and only a third in mid-term elections.  Education – Higher Education more likely to vote (Recently they have been voting democrat)  Income – Higher income the more likely to vote (Vote Republican)  Age – Older people vote more (Vote Republican)  Gender – Women vote slightly more than men (vote democrat – Gender Gap)  Religion – Jews traditionally vote more democrat, but evangelical Christians vote more republican.  Race – Whites vote more than minorities, and usually vote republican. Minorities usually vote democrat except for Cubans.

8.  Solid South – The concept that the South is very conservative and reliably Republican.  The South began shifting democrat to republican during the great depression, and then the sixties and seventies following the civil rights act.

9.  Factors that decrease voter turnout  Voter Registration  Motor Voter Act (voter registration act) – States must allow people to register to vote on their drivers license application. More people registered to vote, but then didn’t vote.  People have low political efficacy believing their vote doesn’t count.  Frequent elections  Voting occurs during the week.

10.  Recall, Initiative, and Referendum (These can only happen at the state and local level).  Recall – When citizens don’t like their elected officials and vote to remove them from office.  Initiative and Referendum – If a topic gets enough support, an referendum is issued in the next election where voters decided an issue instead of the government (these are the questions that are on ballots).

11.  Elite Theory – The Wealthy hold all the power  Pluralist – Politics is a competition between groups and when one group gets to powerful other groups will come together to balance that power  Hyperpluralist – Politics is a competition between groups, but the groups are so powerful that nothing is accomplished.